The Perfect Couple
by Devonnie
Summary: Lily and James do not have the perfect relationship. Or so it seems. So who knows whether they will end up happy and together or will they both find somebody else? Follow them through their last year at school and see how and why they end up married.
1. Chapter 1

The Great Hall was looking very festive. Even more so this year than ever before, for the headmaster had asked every teacher in the castle to help decorate with their own specific kind of talent. The usual twelve Christmas trees that stood in their respective places around the four house tables were purely enchanting. Each tree was sporting a different themed assembly of garlands, angels, and real live exquisite fairies. They danced around the pine needles, flew gracefully from branch to branch, and sprinkled the occasional passerby with shiny pixie dust. Naturally, girls loved passing by the trees, but boys, quite understandably, did not feel like walking around with sparkles all over their hair and face for the rest of the day, and thus tried to steer clear of the mischievous little creatures.

The colors were vibrant, the textures were jubilant and the atmosphere was priceless. The ceiling was the most fascinating of all. The raging snowstorms turned into pulsating sunshine, that became autumn's beautifully colored, rhythmically falling leaves in the matter of seconds, before turning back into the gorgeous white sheltering blanket, which enveloped the sleepy, breakfasting students in a dream-like cocoon, while accurately reflecting the weather outside.

Enormous, intricately shaped snowflakes were making their way down from it right now. Having been enchanted by the Charms Teacher, they stopped dead inches before reaching a surface in the famous old dining hall and melted away into thin air, always remaining just slightly out of reach.

The mood around the castle this year was extra lively, animated and well…magical.

"Oh good god, would you check this freak show out?! Hey! Are you so engrossed in that damn crème brulee of yours that you can't even see it?"- Peta Evans, a skinny brown-haired Slytherin, was squealing and nudging her in the arm.

Her friend has zoned out, and apparently didn't hear a word that was said. But Peta was very persistent and wouldn't stop the incessant poking until her best mate looked up. Obviously it was something rather important.

"What P? Can't you see that I'm trying to eat."

As soon she had her full attention, Peta jerked her head at the Gryffindor table and smirked. Lazily following the direction in which P was pointing, the blonde girl slowly looked over and froze.

"He has been doing that for ten minutes straight now." Peta whispered triumphantly.

_James Potter was staring at her from across the Great Hall. _

Her pretty little mouth fell open and over a million thoughts filled her brain at once. Countless questions were simultaneously running through her head, forming answers, doubts, ideas, scenarios... She could no longer concentrate on food and immediately lost all of her remaining appetite. She could do nothing else than simply stare back.

Now that she had noticed, she expected him to look away, but he didn't. In fact, her noticing him and so obviously challenging his stare, was far from bothering James. It didn't even make him blush. Instead of averting his eyes and acting embarrassed, he grinned arrogantly and gave her an approving head nod.

At this, her dinner napkin inadvertently dropped to the floor and her gorgeous almond shaped blue eyes turned themselves into two big O's. Potter looked at her for about ten more seconds, before turning his attention back to the chocolate pudding and calmly continuing a lively conversation with her very own cousin, Sirius Black.

* * *

It was snowing heavily outside the windows of the Transfiguration classroom; most of the class was sitting in a dreamlike state, thinking about all the sledding, and skiing and snowball fighting that they would be doing later on, and therefore not listening to what McGonagall had to say. Lily Evans was sucking on her quill and absent-mindedly doodling on her notes. It was the last period of the day, and even an over-achiever like her was not in the mood to be learning. She was thinking about the latest row she has had with her boyfriend, reliving it step by step in her mind. She should have felt like the luckiest little witch in the entire school for having such a man on her arm. For making him chase her for years before agreeing to go out with him. For having him eat right out of her hand, when in reality it should be her busting her ass to be with him and not the other way around. He after all, was the most popular guy in school. He was pureblooded and handsome, top of every class in his house, Prefect, captain of the Quidditch team and not to mention Head Boy. And who was she - a muggleborn nobody, who was gifted enough at Potions and Astronomy to have earned herself the Head Girl badge... 

And yet he loved her. Or so he has always said. For years he tried his best to make her fall for him and she could never figure out why. In fact, the main reason she kept refusing him was because she thought she did not deserve him. Until finally a year ago, on Christmas of their second to last term at Hogwarts, she had agreed to go on holiday with him and his gang. During that week in Vienna and Paris, Lily managed to fall for him so hard that she no longer had the strength to keep pretending to refuse him, and confessed her real feelings. They have been together ever since. Everyone was jealous. Half of the girls at Hogwarts nursed their broken hearts for weeks after they initially got together. The Gryffindors simply hated her for taking their idol away, the Ravenclaws were impressed that one of their own has done so well, and the Slytherins were ever scheming and thinking up ways of stealing him from her.

Yes, she should have been on top of the world. She had James Potter.

Except that she has done a very stupid thing two days ago… After seeing him talk to the two female Hufflepuff chasers for over twenty minutes after a co-house practice, while compulsively fixing his hair, laughing, and touching the girls' arms, she had flown off the handle. Overwhelmed with jealousy, she immediately accused him of cheating, making up a story of how he was probably going with one or both of those Quidditch girls behind her back, using practices and matches to sneak around in the stadium locker rooms. Calling the taller one a whore and the shorter one a pug-faced beastess, she went on for thirty minutes about how much of a heartless player he turned out to be.

Obviously it was not true, and after she calmed down, Lily immediately realized what she has done and apologized profusely. But it was too little too late, for James has gotten so incredibly offended that he stormed out of the room without another word to her, and they haven't talked since.

That was two days ago. Today Lily was going out of her mind, missing him, and blaming herself like she never has before. She had a good reason to blame herself. She wasn't stupid, and now, _now_ she was afraid that by doing what she did, she was actually single-handedly driving him into another girl's arms. She was pushing him away with both of her hands, and even though he was kicking and screaming not wanting to go, soon enough he will stop fighting it and find a girl who was not a fan of similar ridiculous scandals. Once he did, she would have no one else to blame, but herself.

* * *

Although Lily didn't know this yet, she was right about one thing. James was certainly considering other possibilities and has been for a while. The latest fight had pushed him to start doing so more actively. There was a certain girl whom he has liked for a really long time now. It was the same girl that he was about to go for, almost precisely one year ago, right before Lily Evans all of a sudden decided to change her mind. He was too shocked to say no to her after all the time that he wasted pursuing the hotheaded strawberry-haired beauty. She intrigued him so much, she tickled his mind and toyed with his ego for ages, and there she was - finally approaching him all of her own accord. 

She explicitly asked him if she could come on the holiday to France that he and his friends have been planning, and made it clear that she would be going alone. In shock, he forgot all about the beautiful blonde he's been eyeing, and went back to being in love with the girl who has had a hold on him forever.

But now, he suddenly remembered all about the Slytherin knockout, and how he felt about her almost a year ago. He figured that it was now or never, he simply had to find to out if there was anything _there_, or if there ever could be anything between them. He would have to do this secretly and go about it the right way if he was to make sure that none of his friends, or his current girlfriend found out. With that in mind, James was about to make a play for her. And it was not going to be easy.

It just so happened that she was his best friend's cousin. Narcissa Black.

* * *

**Author's Note - I don't usually like to write authors notes in my stories, but seeing as this is the first time I posted on this site, I should say something to kick off the story. As you can see this is a Marauder Era romance that is just slightly AU ( such as having Petunia there and etc.) but only slightly. I always thought that the lily-james story was far too idealized and perfect to be realistic so I wanted to write something that showed that everyone has problems and that young teenage boys are more fickle that some would think. At the same time I hope James doesnt come off too horrible, just realistic as a seventeen year old boy. **

**So to sum it up - please _review_ and tell me what you think. Tell me if I achieved the effect I wanted, and anything that you think I might find helpful and constructive! Thanks, and enjoy the read!**

**-Devonnie **


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2 **Narcissa**

Narcissa Black was a delicate flower.

She had been brought up to look, to think and to behave in absolutely flawless ways. Ever since her childhood she moved, she talked and she looked like a precious angel.

And the precocious little blonde had a very good reason for being so. Mr. Black's second daughter always has been and always will be nothing else but "daddy's little princess", to whom neither Bellatrix nor Andromeda could ever live up, in the family's eyes. Narcissa was loved by all of her relatives without exception and she was pushed even harder by them to grow, to learn and to develop as much as possible before it was time for them to say goodbye. Since she was a tiny little toddler, both of her parents, her aunties and uncles and grandmas and grandpas have doted upon Narcissa like nothing else; buying her books well beyond her age level, challenging her with chess and chemistry sets, going on trips to schools and art museums, giving her cultural and intellectual lessons, advancing the magical studies as well as the social skills training as much as they could, fearing that as soon as the girl started Hogwarts it would be too late to exert much, if any, influence at all.

She has been taught to stand tall, smile pretty and never, ever seem anything but delicate and frail. She was told never to get into arguments, to not ask questions to which she didn't already know the answers, and most important of all - never sink to the levels of having to actually solicit help. "Playing the damsel in distress will always do the trick," her mother used to say with a proud smile on her face, full of adoration for her beautiful little daughter. "You can catch more flies with honey" and "Never trust anyone but yourself" were her dad's favorite teachings. Both of her parents, knowing very well what the near future held in store for wizard-kind, took extra special care to make sure she knew how to survive in the real world.

It was as if the other two sisters did not exist. Their middle daughter meant more to Mr. and Mrs. Black, than the first and the last one put together. Bellatrix and Andromeda have often been forgotten about and at times left entirely to their own devices whenever the adults were going out or the entire family was getting together for a reunion. Narcissa never played with them, not exactly because her parents wouldn't let her, but because she has always been considered one of the grownups and eventually became one, in a sense that she no longer found playmates of her own age particularly interesting or intellectually stimulating.

Thus having spent most of her childhood years in the company of adults, and consequently having been challenged on higher intellectual levels, Narcissa grew up to be smart, strong and shockingly independent.

But despite of it all, she was still a very "sweet" girl. Her parents taught her right from wrong, the good from the bad and the pure from the tainted. Narcissa knew that it was better to keep playing a part than to ever give away her real feelings, but she also knew that not everyone in the world was as fortunate as her as to already know this.

That is why she always strove to be fair. If she was going to attack then she would do so secretly, if she was going to deceive, then she was going to do so pleasantly, and if she was going to fall in love, she wouldn't do it openly. Everything needed be done with the slightest inconvenience to the receiving party, and in her mind taking that into consideration, made up for everything else.

Yes, Narcissa was a delicate flower all right. To the outside world, that is. Inside, she was downright dangerous.

* * *

James Potter, being quite a bright young man himself, has always had a thing for smart girls. But being devilishly handsome, his vanity has caused him to demand that such an intelligent girl was also no plain Jane.

Some would call that shallow, but not James. No, he did not think that being simply picky qualified him for that category just yet. After all he expected nothing more out of a woman than what he himself possessed. He was just being fair.

James was seventeen years old, and for the first time in his life he was beginning to worry about the future and to think about the course that he would like his life to take. Soon he would be leaving Hogwarts, and with it he'll leave the carefree school days behind. It was with a sad and sudden pang this fateful Christmas, that James realized at last – he was now in his seventh and final year and would soon be saying goodbye to everything and everyone that was dear to his heart. Less than five months from now James Potter will be moving on whether he wanted to or not, but he was not ready to give up the fun just yet. He was just not ready to grow up and become a responsible and conscientious adult. And who could blame him. At seventeen life is really just beginning, so what was the rush?

_The wizards really need to rethink the law of when to come of age. It is a tad bit early. I'd give anything to be able to stay at Hogwarts for just another year…. Heh, maybe I should become the Minister of Magic and change a few things around._ James found himself thinking on one fine December day, as he was sitting in the History of Magic classroom while pretending to pay attention.

He looked up to find Sirius giving him an evil stare from the row up front, and Professor Binns writing something that looked like volumes and volumes of homework on the board. Thus making sure that he wasn't missing anything important, he zoned right out, going back to his private thoughts.

_There is just so much left to decide! What I want to be, who I want to be, where and how is it all going to happen… Urgh. I'll say this again and again - whoever came up with the idea that eighteen was a great age to officially grow up was a total moron. I have so many matters to resolve, so many options to research and applications to decide on that I think my head will be exploding any day now! All of these matters couldn't be adequately fixed in the next five months. _

_And then there was the matter of Lily. _

_Can't forget about that, perhaps the most pressing one of all_…

It is not that he didn't love his girlfriend - he did… it's just that he wanted to wait. Committing to something or someone so early on in life was never a good idea. It was far from being his intention and anybody who had half a brain cell would be able to realize that. Besides the woman drove him crazy at times and he wasn't altogether sure that they were meant to be after all. Not wanting to hurt her, he has not broken up with her yet, but they certainly seemed to be going in that direction. Nothing about Lily has changed since he first started falling for her. He still found her breathtaking, and gorgeous, and wickedly smart. He even found her little jealous outbursts romantic. But nevertheless he was losing interest. After all, any normal guy only truly likes a girl while he is still chasing her, and before she lets him catch her. Thus, their relationship was getting "old" as well. He wished he could pinpoint the exact moment when he first started feeling this way, but as hard as he tried, he simply couldn't remember.

All he knew was that several weeks ago when they were all having dinner together, laughing, talking and goofing off as usual, out of nowhere Narcissa Black came over to their table. She sat down and greeted everyone in a polite and charming voice, before giving Sirius a note that she received inside her mother's letter earlier that day. She only sat with them for several minutes, while her cousin questioned her on what was going on at home, but during those few fleeting minutes she has managed to make an everlasting impression. The entire time James couldn't take his eyes off of her.

That's when his desire for the noble and honorable Ms. Black, as everyone liked to call her (as a tribute to her wildly popular older cousin), has sprung up again. The unconscious craving that has been sleeping inside of him for many months now decided to awaken once again. Suddenly Narcissa started popping into his mind a lot more often that he would have liked. He began picturing her face while daydreaming during lessons, doodling her exquisite first name on paper margins, and unintentionally seeking out her slender figure in the halls. Eventually it got so bad that whenever a pack of green-clad Slytherin girls walked by, James would crane his neck after them until he was absolutely sure that she wasn't there.

It was therefore quite surprising that neither Peter, nor Lily, nor Sirius had noticed anything; but it was to be expected that Remus would catch on to something that nobody else could see. Remus Lupin, the third and the smartest musketeer in Sirius Black's undying marauder group, knew his best friends far too well and made a kind of a hobby of obsessively observing their every single move.

Thus it was Remus, who for several weeks now has been paying extra careful attention to the dynamics of the group and has set out to uncover exactly how often and why his good friend James has suddenly started making excuses trying to get closer to the Slytherins.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3 **Lily's plan**

"James!

James, wait up! Hey, can we talk?" Lily was running down the Potions corridor trying to catch up with the tall, black haired boy who was walking leisurely with his friends on the opposite end of it, about to turn a corner onto the west wing staircase. Carrying a stack of very heavy books did not make running easier, and consequently Lily looked rather ridiculous jogging in a wobbly and unstable way. She was completely out of breath by the time that she finally reached him.

James stopped dead as soon as she cried out his name and simply stood there, waiting for her to catch up. When she finally halted some two or three feet away, he proceeded to look into her face uncertainly, while displaying a slightly concerned expression on his own. She looked straight up into his eyes and smiled apologetically. Now that she actually had his undivided attention, she suddenly didn't feel as confident about the speech she has prepared the night before. It has been a week since their fight, and he has not made a single move to patch things up or even offer her a sympathetic word or glance; in fact he was avoiding her altogether, and therefore Lily knew that everything was now in her hands, their relationship was hanging on by a thread, and if she didn't act fast, soon she would no longer be James Potter's girlfriend. So soon in fact, that she would not even have time to realize what happened.

She knew that she was on her last chance. It was now or never.

James waited patiently for her to speak. Lily stood in front of him, breathless. Neither was saying a word.

She was an emotional person, and sometimes had a hard time restraining herself, but not this time. No matter how rushed and pressed for time she might have been, the youngest Evans girl was not stupid enough to do what she was planning to do and say what she was going to say in the middle of a school corridor, with his friends watching and heaps of random people passing. What she actually needed was to get him alone, in a secluded private place, where there could be no distractions and no interruptions, nobody but them and their passion. The very same chemistry that has existed between the two of them for years was now going to help her win him back.

Her objective right now was not to burst into tears and beg for forgiveness, nor was it to manipulate or to deceive, but it was to use the plain old charm and a little reason to confuse James into forgetting how mad at her he was, just long enough to get him to agree to another meeting.

But as soon as she saw his face up close, watched him brush away the familiar lock of unruly hair out of his dazzling green eyes, and breathed in the faint scent of his favorite bittersweet cologne, her mind immediately clouded over with a sudden wave of infatuation. Every little emotion that she ever felt for him came rushing back, and in that moment Lily was ready to do anything to have the boy standing in front of her. To once again be able to throw her arms around him, brush that lock of hair away with her own hand, to embrace his strong, masculine chest and gently hide her face in the soft, sweet smelling folds of his robes; to kiss his forehead possessively whenever an attractive girl came around, giving her boyfriend an undeniably appraising look, to…

_Oh shit, what am I doing! _She cursed hastily in her head after she realized that they have been standing there silently for over a minute, and James was getting thoroughly annoyed.Lily was rapidly losing clarity in judgment, which meant that she needed to act fast, before she lost her nerve and broke down in front of him right there and then.

She hastily looked around gathering confidence, straightened up her posture and tilted her pretty head at just the right angle before looking up and smiling in a particular way, the way that always used to drive him nuts. Taking a deep breath, she visibly relaxed. She knew what she was doing. She was cool and self-assured now. The fleeting moment of panic has passed and Lily Evans was her coy, sly self again. And ready to act her ass off.

"James can I see you in here for a minute?" she finally found herself saying in a very calm and composed tone of voice, before grabbing him by the elbow and pulling the two of them into the nearest empty classroom.

* * *

"It's not that funny. P! Shut up! Please! Get a book. Find something to do." Narcissa was losing her patience and wanted nothing else but to go up to her room and plunge into a deep and peaceful sleep. Instead, she was sitting in the common room, listening to her wound up friend drone on and on about James Potter.

"Oh Ciss, can you just imagine her face if she walks in on the two of you going at it? I know for a fact that they haven't actually broken up, so there is no way that she knows anything about it. Ha! I love it. I am so, so loving this. Good god, I cannot wait for you to shove it in Lily's face." Peta giggled and popped a chocolate frog into her mouth, smiling like a lunatic. She has been talking about the same thing for hours, constantly distracting Narcissa from her book.

As soon as she finally stopped talking, she looked over at her beautiful best friend, and studied her face for several minutes… one could see a little pang of sadness appear in her eye and a bit of her enthusiasm momentarily melted away, along with the mouthful of delicate dark chocolate. "How amazing would that be...Eh Ciss?" She added drearily as an afterthought with a pensive expression on her horsy, elongated face.

Narcissa stood up, walked away from her spot near the fire and opened up her schoolbag, which she carelessly tossed aside somewhere near the entrance door a couple of hours ago. Bending over it, she quickly took out a hairbrush and started walking back towards the fire while simultaneously pulling it through her thick, long hair. _Play the part, always play the part. Never let anyone know what you're really thinking._

"Peta, she's your sister! Will you please just stop!! She is your own flesh and blood, and here you are - callously wishing for her heart to broken into a million little pieces! That's vicious. I refuse to believe even for a second that you could be that cruel. As much as I appreciate the support, I have no intention of stealing another girl's boyfriend. …Even he is James Potter himself and fancies me more." Narcissa paused her steps as an involuntary smile crossed her lips.

_Ahh, but who am I kidding, I would give anything to be with a guy like him... And what other girl, save myself, has what it takes to get him? After all, I can't blame him for fancying me. Almost every guy in the school does... _ She thought sinisterly. _Perhaps I should just forget about keeping up the good girl image and become the Slytherin that I always knew I could be… _

_I mean look at Peta – she shouldn't even be in Slytherin, she is not a pureblood. Just imagine how much cunning brutality she must possess in order to have been sorted into it anyway… People aren't stupid, I bet they can already guess that I can't be that much different, if I keep hanging around with her._

_But no I can't. I can't I can't I can't. He is too public of a figure and waging an open battle in front of an entire school is just plain stupid and goes against all that I believe in. Besides no boy is worth it. And what would my father say? __Same thing he would if he knew you were hanging around with a halfblood... _At this, Narcissa cringed, almost letting her face slip into a frown.

She was walking absent-mindedly towards the magically maintained window, which really had no business being there, seeing as the Slytherins lived in the dungeons. Sighing, she took another step toward the windowpane and then abruptly turned around. "Listen Petunia, I think I am going to run over and pay a visit to my sister before turning in for the night… So I'll see you in the morning." And with that she marched right out of the portrait, up from the dungeons and in the direction of the Hufflepuff house tower. Leaving Peta Evans to gape at her retreating form and wonder out loud – "Did she just call me by my full name?

Or more importantly did she really say that she was going to see her little skank of a sister… at this time of the night?" Petunia found herself exclaiming to the now completely empty room.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4 **The midnight adventure**

It was nearly midnight, and she knew she shouldn't be wandering the halls at this time of the night. But she also knew that even if she ran into a prefect or someone else who happened to be patrolling, she could always pull a story out of her ass, like she has done on many other occasions. Narcissa Black did not get into trouble. Ever. It was a rule. She could always wiggle her way out of everything that had the misfortune to happen to her.

In fact she wasn't even nervous as she boldly marched through the dark school corridors alone, on this cold winter night. She might have been the first and last student _ever _to attend Hogwarts, who was actually liked by Argus Filch. So even if she had a reason to be afraid, being caught would not be it.

But as Narcissa rounded yet another corner, she heard something creak up ahead at the end of the badly lit hall. Squinting into the darkness, she paused for a second or two before shrugging it off and moving right on. This corridor was lined with the suits of armor, so she just assumed it was a metal knight who has made the noise.

By the time she got halfway down it however, she was starting to wish that she were laying down in her soft, warm bed, instead of stepping on the hard, cold stone floor, making her way through the enormous castle. Being incredibly tired, the blonde witch was walking rather slow, constantly meddling with the loose locks of her hair when her hand kept flying up to fix the shawl she had thrown around her shoulders. She was starting to shiver now and the entire idea of seeing Andromeda seemed so ludicrous to her at that point, that she had half a mind to turn around and go back to the dungeons in peace. Just as she was thinking this, she saw a shadow move from behind a suit of armor and stop right in the middle of the corridor, directly in her path.

"Jesus!" She jumped, raising her wand high above her head automatically and uttering a spell to make the lights in the hall shine bright.

"Hello Narcissa." A familiar male voice spoke from several feet ahead of her.

"Oh, it's you. Why are you lurking in the shadows? …Alone in the middle night?" She asked tentatively, with a hint of an obvious relief in her voice.

"Same can be asked of you, my dear…" Was all of the reply that she received.

"Ha" She snorted pompously. "_That_ is none of your business"- she said with such power in her voice that one would think she were a queen and the boy in front of her a jester, before attempting to pass around him by taking a sharp turn to the left, with her chin held up high in the air.

Her fellow adventurer however, moved very quickly to his right in order to block her way again.

"Goddamn it Lucius, do you MIND? Move!" Narcissa yelled, and when he did not respond, she continued -"Just go away! Please. I beg you. I am in no mood to play your games right now."

"Not so loud, Narcissa, my dear. You will wake up half the castle in your attempts to get rid of me so fast. I do hope that you weren't out here meeting a secret boyfriend… I would hate to have spoiled that hour of bliss for you." Lucius Malfoy spoke at last, his voice laced with mock anger and sarcasm. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, staring down at her from his towering, six-foot-something height. Suddenly he took his right arm out and used it to lean against the wall, which was now less than a foot away from them. Instantly, Narcissa got the feeling that she was not going anywhere else tonight. Out of all the people in the Hogwarts castle who could have ruined this night for her, Lucius Malfoy was the one who has completely slipped her mind.

_I should have known._ She thought desperately. He always shows up at the most inconvenient moments, in the worst possible of places. She just never thought it would be here, up in the Hufflepuff wing of the castle, at 11:57 pm … Glancing at her watch, Narcissa clucked her tongue against her pallet and stared up into Lucius's cold gray eyes.

_What WAS he doing here? It's not very likely that he was just out for a stroll and simply happened to have accidentally run into me._

_He must have been following me the entire time, ever since I left the Slytherin dungeon floor nearly fifteen minutes ago. _

"What are you doing here?" She asked again, this time putting force behind it, thus informing him that she expected an actual answer. Lucius was standing rock-still, touching the wall with his right palm and smiling extra broadly. However at hearing the feisty witch pose the question for the second time, he sighed and straightened up with mock humility before bowing his head to her and earnestly saying-

"I was worried about you. You slipped out of the common room in a very agitated state and ran off into the darkness by yourself. At eleven o'clock at night! I simply had to follow and make sure that you were alright. Don't be mad, Narcissa, you know that I couldn't help it. I wanted to protect you. We both know how I feel about you, and –"

"Stop!" She interrupted. "I don't want to hear this. Again. How many times do we have to go over this Lucius? Stop hitting on me, stop watching out for me and for god's sake stop trying to protect me when I most certainly don't need your help! I am not yours to save. When are you going to get this into that big head of yours?" This was not good, she was beginning to lose her cool and her entire nervous system seemed to send out a warning that she was moments away from flying completely off the handle. Fearing that she would not be able to stop herself if she stayed in his presence any longer, she physically pushed him aside and darted past the suits of armor. Without actually stopping to glance behind, she could hear him beginning to chuckle and lazily call after her, lamely trying to apologize. Narcissa could still hear him laughing at her when she dashed up the farthest stairway in the opposite direction of where she actually needed to go.

Lucius Malfoy was so persistent, so cocky and so rich that he quite literally never gave up. _He could make a corpse lose its temper_. There was no other guy in the entire school who had this effect on her and Narcissa Black was more than embarrassed to admit it. Sure he was handsome, and sure he was a pureblood, and her parents would love nothing better than seeing Narcissa make a match like that, but deep inside she was still hoping to find passion and romance… something exciting, and pure and warm, something that wouldn't force her to settle for security over love, because it would already contain both of those qualities. So far… she has only found one without the other.

Ever since she caught Potter staring at her a couple of days ago, Narcissa started thinking more and more about him. Well, not even _him_ in particular, but about a guy of his characteristics and qualities, someone who was passionate and great, someone who was dependable and honest, and not haughty and controlling.

If truth be told, Narcissa has liked James on and off for ages. She used to spend a lot of time around him, when Sirius and Narcissa used to be close, back in their first few schooling years. They were just children then, and most of the boys that age, including the marauders, were not interested in the opposite sex quite yet. Eleven-year-old girls however were already just as obsessed about boys, as are their sixteen year old counterparts. So that was precisely when Narcissa began to really like him.

But not being an ordinary girl, she didn't dwell on it, and has soon forgotten all about it. She had moved on to other friends, to other boys and other relatives of hers who have also been attending Hogwarts.

But today, almost seven years later, Narcissa could feel all of her old sentiments toward the green-eyed seeker coming alive once again. After all, he was the first boy that she had ever allowed herself to like. In a way, she had always kept him in the back of her mind, with every single boyfriend that she had, and every single date she went on. Narcissa did not care about him per se, she was more like using his persona to compare everybody else to.

_It wouldn't be **such** a bad idea if I were to give Potter a chance. _After all, she didn't **really** care that he had a girlfriend, she had only said that to shut Peta up, and to get rid of anyone who might have been listening, by putting their minds at ease. The entire student body thought that there was no one sweeter in the entire house of Slytherin than the "noble" and "honorable" Narcissa, and she wasn't about to shatter that happy belief.

She sighed for what seemed like the tenth time that night, and looked around, hoping to recognize the surroundings, but to her utter surprise she could not figure out exactly which corridor she has absent-mindedly fled to. Getting progressively more nervous, she spun around several times, desperately trying to guess which classrooms she was now standing outside of and after failing to do so, stopped dead while clenching her teeth really hard. _Great. This is perfect. I am lost, in a thousand year old castle, at nearly one o'clock in the morning. I am going to kill Lucius! I hate him. Hate him! Hate him. _

She needed to calm down; ranting wasn't helping her one bit, even if she did it silently.

And then out of nowhere that silence was broken -"Ooh lookie here… A student, wandering the corridors… Oooh and it is well past midnight. Meeting a boyfriend, are we? A girlfriend perhaps? Tut tut -"

"Shut up Peeves!" She cut the poltergeist off rapidly, not really expecting him to listen, but in the hopes of at least delaying the moment when the entire school was woken up by his annoying chatter. And to her huge surprise he instantly obeyed. "Yes ma'am," he said and started gliding away while eyeing her beadily with a hint of an obvious admiration on his see-through little face. His tiny little eyes were boring into her soft figure, and his short feet flailed out a meager waltz. She watched him drift inches from the ceiling, transfixed and unable to say another word. It was obvious that the little translucent man found her attractive, and she needed to use that to her advantage.

Suddenly an idea popped into her head and she yelled after him - "Peeves wait!"

She needed his help and she was going to have to suck it up and ask for it. There was no way around it. Cringing at the thought, Narcissa put on the sweetest possible expression and used her most honey-flavored voice to utter -"Do you by any chance happen to know which hall we are in?"

"Yes, Peevsie knows. He knows, he knows, he knows! But he won't tell you. No!" Apparently he has gotten a good enough look at the pretty girl, and decided it was time to make an exit. Peeves stuck his tongue out and saluted Narcissa before rapidly flying away.

"Oh Peeves pl-" Narcissa started but had caught herself in time. _No, she wasn't about to beg a poltergeist for help. She would rather stay lost and wander the Hogwarts halls until dawn. _

Gritting her teeth, she turned away from the ceiling and looked around one more time. Defeated, she decided to just start walking in the direction from which she came, and eventually she would stumble upon something that she recognized. The castle couldn't be that big… Her mind absolutely refused to believe that she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she could have walked herself into a corner without being able to find her own way out of it.

So she walked back, back down the current corridor, back around the unfamiliar corner, down a staircase and up another one, soon finding herself in a completely foreign part of the castle, where even the floors and classroom doors looked nothing like the ones that the students went to every day.

_Oh oh. Now, I am really worried. _Narcissa thought desperately and hoping to catch her breath, leaned against the nearest stretch of the wall. And in that precise moment something very strange happened. Just as she was staring straight ahead, the wall in front of her glowed bright and a large wooden door appeared in it. _What the devil…?_

Apparently this school was still full of surprises that no student could ever dream to fully get to know in the mere seven years of being there.

Not daring to approach it, Narcissa glared at the door for what seemed like an eternity… and then – it opened.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5**When we were strangers **

Lily Evans was sitting on the large round table in the room of requirement. Having found it with some amount of difficulty fifteen minutes earlier, she was now impatiently waiting for the one who asked her to meet him there. She didn't know what he could possibly have to say to her in such secrecy, but she was dying to find out.

Five minutes passed, then ten; slowly but surely she was beginning to get annoyed. She was holding a crumpled note in her hand. The note that so casually and yet forcefully requested her presence in the Room of Requirement at 11:45 pm, on the night of December 21, 1977.

She read the four short lines over again, pausing at the last three words.

_Meet me there tonight at quarter to midnight. Don't tell James._

A loud knock distracted her from perusing the sloppily written words and her eyes flew up to look at the door just as the handle was turning. A messy mane of jet black hair peeked around the half-open door frame and smiled at finding her already there.

"Lily, you came! I'm so glad you found the place okay. I was slightly worried that you wouldn't understand my instructions." He grinned and shutting the door noiselessly strode confidently into the room.

"Frankly I am quite at a loss as to why you gave me this note in the first place, Sirius. What in the world is this about?" Looking him straight in the eyes, she got directly to the point. "I would very much like to get some sleep tonight if you don't mind, so let's make this quick. What can I help you with?"

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and moving deeper into the room came to a halt a foot or two away from Lily's face. With a genuine surprise in his dark but gentle eyes he mumbled -"I really thought you knew. Shouldn't it have been obvious? If you had no idea then why did you even come?"

"What are you talking about Sirius? I think one of us is definitely beginning to go mad... I don't understand you. What should I have known? Why are we meeting here in the dead of the night? And why wouldn't I tell James about it?" She flipped her hair, pausing for a second. "Wait. Is it about me meeting with him tomorrow? I am guessing you know all about our fight." She smiled suddenly at that last thought. _Of course - he was there to talk to her about his best mate's feelings. He was probably worried senseless about their relationship being on the rocks and simply wanted to help out. May be he will offer some words of advice, or assure her that James still loves her and nothing she could say or do will ever tear them apart. _

However the expression on Sirius's face was not one that was happy or promising, and by the time that Lily finished talking, she knew that was not why her invited her there at all.

"Lily." His voice was slow and slightly grave. "You don't really believe that things between the two of you are still going to work out. Oh Lily. I didn't think that you could ever be so blind. _Me_, yes, I might have been blind to everything, but _you_ – you are so brilliant, I never would have thought you would keep lying to yourself."

She stared back at him, unable to bring herself to reply. _Huh? Was he really talking about what I think he was talking about? It can't be… _

She must have sat like that for longer than she wished to, because after a minute or two he spoke again- "Lily? Can you hear me?"

"What? Yes.

I mean, no. Yes. I can hear you." She finally managed to spit out.

"Lily, he is over you. He still likes you, no doubt about it, but he no longer cares like he used to. Trust me, I am his best mate, I should know. Even though he hasn't told me anything about it, it my job to notice. He _has_ been acting very weird lately and I am almost positive that there is someone else." Sirius sighed. "I'm sorry. Lily."

After waiting a few seconds for a response, he added - "I can see how much effort you are putting into this and it hurts me watching you waste your time. It hurts me, Lily, because I care about you. Perhaps I have always cared about you, but never realized it until now. Now, when your entire world is being shattered. I want to be here for you. I really do, and I really hope that you will let me. Lily? Lily? Are you listening? Aren't you going to say something?"

She was sitting there transfixed, swallowing Sirius's words like bitter pills. This wasn't happening. She heard the words, but she didn't want to believe them. _Did he just say he loved me? No, he didn't actually phrase it that way. He was probably meaning platonically. What did it matter anyway! _ Her boyfriend, James Henry Potter no longer wanted her the way she wanted him. His best friend, Sirius Black was willing to betray his confidence and tell her about it, because **he **actually did.

She was looking at the familiar face of the handsome boy in front of her, and felt as if she didn't know him at all. It was like looking at a stranger. Why was he saying these things to her? Why was he so eager to hurt her? She had a plan, she had a boyfriend, and she was going to make things up to him in less than twenty-four hours. Everything in her life was going to be just fine, up until Sirius Black walked through those doors into the Room of Requirement twenty minutes ago.

Silently Lily stood up and slowly started walking to the exit. Her posture was unstable, her steps were shaky, and Sirius was almost sure that he saw a tear getting ready to escape. She stopped and quickly looked around her shoulder, back at the spot where he was. Blinking away a would-be tear, she put her hand onto the knob.

"Lil? Where are you going?" He hastily called after her.

She did not respond. Turning the handle, she stepped out into the dark without saying another word to him.

* * *

Narcissa held her breath and watched as the newly materialized door handle turned silently and Lily Evans stepped out into the hall. Narcissa's eyes grew wide as she pressed herself even farther into the concrete wall, doing her best not to be noticed. She watched with great curiosity as her soon-to-be rival, carefully tiptoed across the threshold while positively shaking with emotion. _Now, this is getting interesting._

Lily shut the door behind her and started running down the hall; emitting some muffled, but audible sobs by the time she disappeared around the corner. In her haste, she failed to see the pretty blonde hiding in the shadows.

Several minutes later Narcissa still hasn't moved. She remained in the exact same spot, waiting. She was almost positive that somebody else was about to come out of the secret room in front of which she was standing; and she was going to find out who he was. For no sane girl, not even Lily Evans, would be lurking around the school at night, crying, if it didn't involve a guy. She moved several inches to the left, so that the sliver of bright yellow light wouldn't hit her when the door was opened, and smirking in anticipation prepared herself for the second half of the show. She was willing to bet a lot of money that the person who was about to emerge would not be Potter.

But no matter how many bets she would have won by naming people who this guy would **not** be, she certainly did not expect who she was about to see. The sliver of light flickered one more time as the secret door began to move. A tall and handsome boy walked out from behind it. She recognized his form immediately, even without having to see him in the proper light. The four seconds during which the meek yellow glow rested upon the outline of his face were enough.

Narcissa gasped and instantaneously put a hand over her mouth. She couldn't believe her eyes – Lily was having an affair with Narcissa's cousin. James's best friend - Sirius Black.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6 **The invitation**

Lily sat on her bed, knees drawn into her chest, and rocked her body slightly. She wasn't crying anymore, but her face was still swollen from when she was earlier. Her roommates were fast asleep, so she didn't have to worry about their incessant questions, sympathy or stares. She could just sit there and think. What Sirius had told her was upsetting, that was true, but she was in no way ready to give up yet. She wanted James, and so far, no matter what his best friend thought about it, she could still have him.

Tomorrow she would see him one on one, she knew what she was going to say, she was ready and then she would take it from there. All she really had to do was make him see the same Lily that he has been madly in love with for all these years; all she needed was to apologize and truly mean it; he would respond… she knew he would. After all, what guy could resist a skimpily dressed girlfriend, whom he already had feelings for, and who was standing in front of him, her entire appearance telling him that he could have her any time he wanted. That's right, no sane guy would be able to say no to that. And James still cared. He did, he had to - Sirius said so himself. Lily just needed to remind him of what they used to have and what he has been missing.

With that in mind, she finally yanked the curtains around her four-poster bed shut and fell backwards onto her pillow, fully clothed and no longer tired.

At the same time Narcissa Black has finally managed to make her way back to the dungeons. She followed her cousin at a distance to the main stairway corridor, from which he went up to the Gryffindor tower and she journeyed five floors downward into the now recognizable hallways. She spoke the password and walked into the common room. Peta was nowhere in sight, so she assumed that the nosy friend of hers has gone to bed and thanked the gods that they did not share a dormitory. Walking across the floor to the girl's entrance she thought about seeing Andromeda tomorrow, or maybe even writing to Bella for advice, but by the time she got to her bed, she dismissed the idea entirely. She didn't really want or need either one of her sisters to go meddling in her problems. No, not even problems, that was the wrong word - she didn't have any problems… she just wanted some support, for the first time in her uncomplicated life. Support from someone who was her age, who was bright and had the potential to be trusted. In others words she wanted to talk to a Black, but if she couldn't then she would just have to rely on her own judgment. And for now it was telling her to jump straight into action. Hence, before she even had time to undress and get under the covers, Narcissa had already reached a decision.

She would accept the advances of James Potter, but not without properly putting him through a wringer beforehand. With that she softly closed her eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Lily Evans fled the Great Hall immediately after finishing her breakfast, for she has set a date with James prior to the first class of the day and wanted to go over what she was going to say one more time. She went back up to her room, grabbed her books along with the rest of school supplies, and then dug out the piece of paper on which she has been writing down the possible things that she might say to her boyfriend when she finally had a chance to. She skimmed over the list in her hand and quickly glanced at her watch. It was time to go if she were to make it to the greenhouses on time.

The greenhouses - that was where she had set the meeting, and James was probably down there already, being a fairly punctual individual, as opposed to herself, whose personality was more reminiscent to that of a patient with an OCD. For her, everything had to be perfect, refined and completed and if it ever did not live up to such pre-set standards it ended up causing her great anxiety, thus pushing Lily to compulsively correct whatever was wrong. That was another reason why she wasn't willing to simply let this relationship go, which might have been the easier and much more level headed option. She was a person who just couldn't take the easy way out. On the contrary what she wanted to do was to fix what didn't really need fixing, instead of accepting other, newer ways of doing things. To try to mend the broken pieces of the bond between them, without ever understanding why the pieces broke in the first place.

Well, she actually knew why they had broken, Sirius and her own better judgment have informed her why, but she chose to brush those reasons off, to repress the truth and ignore the possibility that her intervention might not work. It was with such deluded confidence that she had finally stepped out of the portrait and set off across the castle in the direction of the west side grounds.

"Hi Lily" she heard as soon as she walked around the corner of Greenhouse One. James was standing with his back against the building wall, playing with a real life snitch, which he has had for a couple of years. Lily was pretty sure that he had stolen it from an inter-house Quidditch game back in their fifth year and had never bothered to give it back. James appeared to be in a very good mood, and even looked as if he was happy to see her.

"Hey James" she found herself saying while smiling very wide. "You look great."

"You look pretty good yourself today, Lils. It's been a while since we had a chance to really see each other, and I realize that it was partly my fault. Well, sit down, we should really talk." James spoke casually, feeling quite at ease as he lowered himself onto the magically heated stretch of cement in the midst of the snow covered grounds and motioned for her to join him. But such an easy going demeanor on his side made Lily feel uncomfortable, seeing as she was expecting him to be at least as worried about things as she was, and to be severely unresponsive to her attempts to break the ice at first. As it turned out, the ice didn't need any breaking, and Lily was the one who moved into the category of unresponsiveness after a minute or two.

"You see, we have been drifting apart for some time now, and I don't know if you have noticed, but I have, and for the past week I have been taking a much needed for the both of us break. I had a lot of time to think and I hope that you have too. I want you to know that I really enjoy being with you and the past year has been great…You know that I love you right?" He paused, unsure about whether to go on.

Lily was looking at him with utter amazement in her beautiful emerald eyes and a barely distinguishable frown on her sweet round face. She hasn't moved at all, she just sat there looking perplexed, but not at all hurt or even angry. Lily's gaze fell to the pile of snow near which they were sitting and her hand began to slowly brush the loose flakes off the top. Her hand was cold, he could tell, as it was touching the freezing snow, but she kept doing it without stopping, while looking up into his eyes every other second.

At seeing this reaction, one of a rather fragile and an unprotected creature, James couldn't bring himself to say what he knew he was about to and what he knew he really should have. He swallowed hard and ran over the situation in his head again. He came down there that morning with a full intention of breaking up with her, but he was rapidly losing the nerve to actually go through with it.

The exact words that were forming on his lips were about to be "I don't think that we should stay together," but no matter how he tried he couldn't get them out.

Instead he said - "Do you want to keep seeing each other?"

Instantly, she looked up at him beaming. "Yes I do, James. I love you, and you know it. I absolutely want to keep seeing each other."

_It worked. He couldn't bring himself to say it, _Lily thought triumphantly. And now he won't be able to say anything else. She knew where his speech was headed as soon as he opened his mouth and spoke the first several words. But she also knew _him _well enough to assume that if she just sat there and didn't lead him on with pleas and questions, that he would talk himself into a corner. Which is precisely what he did.

At seeing the relief flush over her entire face, James smiled too, and concluded hesitantly - "Brilliant. Okay then. Okay. That is what we will do." Then he reached over and enveloped her in a one armed hug; rather lightly and apprehensively at first, and then drawing her in tighter and tighter.

* * *

"Sirius! Hold up." Narcissa yelled in the middle of the courtyard during lunch break.

He stopped and grinned at seeing who it was. "Hey Ciss, what's up?"

"Oh not a whole hell of a lot… But I was wondering whether you and your friends wanted to play some cards tonight perhaps? Girls against boys, or rather Gryffindor versus Slytherin." She chuckled, looking slightly to the side to where the rest of his gang was standing. James was smiling at her, his green eyes sparkling mischievously, but his entire countenance showed that he was rather crestfallen and annoyed. She wondered if he knew about Lily's nighttime wanderings.

"You want to hang out with us? All of your own accord… Got to say I am surprised, it has been a while since you favored this dear old cousin with your angelic presence unless you absolutely had to." Sirius raised an eyebrow and laughed out loud at his wittiness. "Ah, I'm just kidding of course. Narcissa, darling, we would love to! Name the time and the place, and Prongs, Moony and myself will make it our business to be there."

"Excellent! How about the Great Hall after dinner when everyone has left?" She smirked and looked at James and Remus one more time, before flashing a gorgeous smile at her cousin and turning on her heel. She did not expect an answer, for it wasn't a request or a question, it was a statement of fact. They were to meet her there or else.

"Alright then, see you boys later!" Narcissa called over her shoulder, and walked away without a backward glance.


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7 **Games people play**

Narcissa, Petunia and a girl named Elladora, who was distantly related to the Blacks, made their way to the Gryffindor table shortly after finishing dessert that night. Elladora was an odd sort of cousin, the kind that Sirius never really liked talking to, and therefore expressed a very pronounced scowl at the sight of her skinny frame approaching his table. The black haired witch didn't talk much; always wandering around with a dreamy look on her face, her entire demeanor resembling a trance, as if she had no idea what went on around her and what her role in it was. It irritated most people who have known her, but Narcissa didn't seem to mind. She preferred it that way actually, for she has finally found a friend, a relative nonetheless, who did everything she told her to, who never got on her nerves and always left her alone at the right times without even being asked to. In short, Elladora Black, was exactly what Petunia Evans wasn't and precisely what Narcissa has always needed and wanted.

Petunia and Elladora plumped down on either side of Sirius, while Narcissa hovered on the opposite side of the bench, carefully scrutinizing the door and all the students currently filing out of it, back up to their dorms and common rooms, away from the Great Hall. Remus and James weren't there yet, due to having landed in detention with the potions master earlier that day. This annoyed the lovely Ms. Black to no end, so she continued her fidgeting, refraining from lowering herself onto the seat directly across from her two favorite relatives. Instead she smirked and turned to face the staff table, while tapping her perfectly manicured nails on the wooden surface.

Sirius was failing to sit still as well; he kept glancing at her furtively while shooting the other girls somewhat dirty looks. He was beginning to regret agreeing to a poker game without making sure that he knew and/or liked the girls that his cousin was planning to bring. The ones that she did bring however, didn't look too excited to be there either, yet neither one was saying a word to him or to each other, making the situation all the more uncomfortable. The three of them continued to sit in complete silence for another four to five minutes, watching the pretty blonde pace in front of them all.

Just as Narcissa was about to open her mouth to complain, James's unkempt haircut appeared at the door. "Ah, _there are_ your irresponsible friends, my dear cousin." She finally spoke with marked displeasure. After shooting him a cold look, she abruptly stopped pacing and gracefully sat down at last, flaring out the massive robes around herself like a queen on a throne.

Sirius wondered why she seemed so tense, and why she even cared whether the other boys were there at all, since they could easily play with just four people. (As much as he hated the idea of spending an hour or two in the company of the two young women who now sat motionless around him, like bodyguards on duty.)

It never occurred to him that maybe she disliked the two Slytherins just as much as he did, and only hung out with them out of habit.

At any rate she wasn't being very stealth whatever was the reason for such tension, and he was very interested as to what reason might be. He raised his eyebrow in Narcissa's direction, in response to which she shot him yet another irritated glance, as if telling him to shut the hell up and if he did, then maybe she would explain things to him later.

At that moment Remus reached the table and went straight for the spot on Narcissa's right side, ending up across from Elladora.

"Hi Cissa. Hey girls.." He stammered out, and realizing that he could not remember the names of the two Slytherins, hastened to promptly shut his mouth. He curiously surveyed all the gloomy faces and slowly turned around to see where James had gone.

"Oh Remus, where are my manners, these are my friends Ella and Peta. Girls, this is Remus Lupin, a good friend of my cousin's as you might already know. And this-" she paused, smirking, as Potter finally walked up to stand behind her "is James Potter. Mr. Head Boy himself, in the flesh."

Smirking was her signature look, as she absolutely loved grimacing her pretty face into silly and charming arrangements, knowing that it made her appear all the more interesting and attractive. Having thus caught his stare, she gently petted the bench to the left of where she was seated and immediately turned away.

"No need to be so sarcastic Cissa. I was not any less surprised than everyone else in this school when the headmaster appointed me Head Boy. Just ask Remus here, our resident prefect." He chuckled and brushed his hand on hers by accident as he moved to make a polite handshake with Peta, his girlfriend's older sister. He was looking forward to playing cards with Narcissa all day, losing himself in the mischievous daydreams, and therefore has completely forgotten about the fact that she was friends with Peta Evans. This was turning out to be much worse than he had thought.

_Crap. What the hell am I supposed to do now. I cannot as much as look at her the wrong way without it getting right back to Lily through that nosy sister of hers. Why, oh why did she have to bring her? I was almost positive that she knew… I guess I was wrong._ James was looking straight at Petunia with an unreadable look on his handsome face. He knew she didn't like him, and he fully reciprocated the sentiment. Petunia was rude, bitter and meddlesome, so he really couldn't understand how the two most agreeable girls at Hogwarts, Lily and Narcissa, could stand being around her so much.

She was sitting rather quietly right now, but only because she has been scheming something, determined to make this evening as _interesting _as possible

"Why are you looking at me like that? Have you got a problem with something?"

"No, no, I'm so sorry Petunia, I must have spaced out. How have you been? It's been a while since I visited Surrey."

"_Don't_ call me that. You know very well how much I dislike my full name." She squished her lips together and after thinking for a moment, added smugly –"Have you seen my sister today? She seemed to be upset over something the last time I talked to her… Very upset. And people tell me that you too have been looking quite unhappy. You guys haven't been fighting, have you?" A mock concern was playing on her emaciated lips, while her eyes displayed nothing but pure hatred.

At this both Sirius and Narcissa have looked up and glared at her alarmingly. This topic was taboo. Everyone, save for Elladora knew that. What's more, the two girls have agreed not to talk about Peta's sister anymore and here she was so blatantly breaking the promise right in front of the two people that more than anyone weren't supposed to know that Peta was aware of pretty much everything.

Without a second's delay, Narcissa attempted to fix the situation with her own quite witty play on words, before James had the chance to reply –

"**Yes**, she looked positively heart-_breaking_ the other day, quite thin and dreary…Lonely, I would say. I was awfully tempted to go up and ask if I could be of any help, but for obvious reasons I restrained myself… I _do _hope that everything is okay, James?" With that she hoped to have silenced any further attempts on weeding out any kind of emotional response from Potter, and subtly let him know that _she _at least, was well aware of the problems he has had, and was in fact, more than happy to hear about them.

It seems to have worked, as Petunia chocked on her own saliva and James's mouth froze half open, as the attention now has turned to her. James understood immediately, and did not need to be told twice. He quickly closed him mouth and smiling tentatively, gently looked Narcissa straight in the eyes and said – "Well, that was very _kind_ of you. I believe she was having some problems with her classes. I'm not entirely sure, as I was rather busy last week with Quidditch practice." His gaze was soft and warm, as he has suddenly gotten the feeling that she was on his side in this charade. She returned it gladly and cautiously sliding her hand under the table, out of sight of all those present, she squeezed his knee and turned away. She could allow herself _slight_ crossing of the line this night; just a little bit here and there. She also had to do some very light flirting with every guy at the table, so as not to appear to be singling anybody out. It was not going to be a problem. She was in her element tonight.

"Wait. What Quidditch practice? You haven't had any matches for weeks, what are you talking about?" Remus has jumped in without thinking, after sensing that the conversation was turning to something less than innocent small talk, and he wanted to have a part in it, no matter how inappropriate it was. But having promptly received a kick in the shin from Sirius, he grimaced from the pain and finally getting it, grabbed the stack of cards, which was sitting nearby. "So anyway, what should we play?" He smiled sheepishly and dealt from left to right. But nobody replied and silence enveloped the table, as Petunia glared at James, and Sirius at Cissa, and James kept shooting Remus very nasty looks.

"I think that bridge is a good game for six people" – said Ella suddenly, coming out of her trance, and surveying everyone with glassy eyes.

She startled Sirius, who had thoroughly forgotten that there was someone sitting on his left side. He jumped and turned his head to look at her appreciatively. The girl might turn out to be a useful player after all.

"I think that Ella's right. Lets play that. Cissa?" he chimed in.

"Sure." And turning back to Lupin, she said – "Remus - deal away."

* * *

"Ahh, you're so totally and completely cheating!" Sirius was mad, at having just lost yet another hand that night, and was yelling at James, who was smiling smugly.

"What can I say mate, I'm gifted at much more than just sports!" he laughed and stole a look at the cheerful form of Narcissa, who was happily sitting beside him, not at all upset by the fact that her team was losing (she was playing with her cousin.) "Your teammate doesn't seem to mind" – he added and winked at his partner in crime, who was showing him her cards in secret, thus making any move on Sirius's part quite worthless. In the past hour and a half they have gotten pretty comfortable with each other and even though, most of the people at the table didn't notice, Petunia watched them like a hawk, catching their every move and every glance. It pleased her greatly that Narcissa actually decided to go for him, and even though Petunia would love nothing better than to have it widely known across the school, she knew that she would have to wait. For now, she would content herself with controversial remarks in front of friends, and Lily and see if anybody else would care to catch on.

"Does it feel good? James?" She whispered suddenly, catching him off guard, for he has just been locking gazes with Narcissa, and thus was rather thrown as the double meaning seeped through.

"Uh. What do you mean?" He stuttered, flustered, wondering if he had really been that obvious. Sirius looked up from scrutinizing his new 6 card hand, confused.

"Your winning of the game of course!" She raised her whisper slightly, and raised an eyebrow, indicating that her meaning was completely the opposite. "You looked quite… _jubilant_," and with a slight inclining of her head she pointed to his right, sporting an evil grin.

Narcissa gave her a cold look and taking out her wand, put it on the table in front of her, as a subtle warning for her friend to shut the hell up. She was not afraid to use it. Peta was crossing the line. And even though Ciss knew too well why she was doing it, she was still powerless right then, seeing that voicing it out loud would give the entire thing away.

Remus, Ella and Padfoot were not included in this weird conversation, and despite their being an intelligent bunch, not a one has managed to figure out what was going on between the other three. Sirius was getting increasingly suspicious, but nothing has yet clicked. Remus would never in a million years have dreamed that James's odd behavior and fascination with the Slytherins had anything to do with lovely Cissy Black. And Ella couldn't care less. She silently fingered her kings and aces, not paying attention to the game at all, knowing by now that James would make them win anyway. (to her enormous luck, she ended up teamed up with Potter, and Remus was stuck with Petunia as a partner for the rest of the night)

"Sure Peta, it feels great…" He grinned and hastened to put down a card - it was his turn.

"James,"-Narcissa spoke at last, after having been quiet for the entire hour of the game –"would you like to try something _new?" _There was the play on words again. She deemed it safe to spice up the conversation once again. Peta catching it, silently chuckled.

James caught unawares, spoke quite truthfully - "Sure, Narcissa," not really caring what she meant, as long as she kept turning her blue eyes on him.

"I know a clever game, a distant Irish cousin has taught me once, when we were nine. We'll have to switch positions, though. Ella, come sit here, on James's left side – you are now playing with Petunia. Remus, you and James are now a team, so sit across from him right there. And, cousin, you and I will play again. Hand me the deck - "

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" came a frantic, forceful voice from several feet away. All of their heads snapped as one in that direction, as James instinctively scrambled up, tripping over the hem of his robes three times before succeeding to stand up right.

A fuming Lily stood in front of them, her robes unbuttoned, hair in disarray, and lipstick smudged a little in the left corner of her mouth. The sight was rather frightening, and all three boys' faces took on expressions showing they were busted. Petunia and Ella could not believe how bad she looked, and couldn't hide their disapproving glances.

In fact, the only person to whom this sight was truly welcome, was Narcissa. Her face has split into a satisfied but subtle smile, as her left hand ran through her perfect hair, and right hand smoothed her pretty robes. She was strangely triumphant when logically she should have been upset that her evening has come to such an unfortunate end.

"I have been looking for you boys all night! And not a one of you has even thought to tell me that you would be in company of Slytherins, without a care in the world about what I would think!" She stopped suddenly, spotting Petunia, sitting next to Remus, and the power of speech seemed to have momentarily left her.

"My sister! MY sister is here?! James, what the hell is going on here?"

She ogled the despicable sibling for a minute before moving her glance to the other two girls. She wasn't too surprised that Narcissa was there, after all she was Padfoot's first cousin, - but the quiet black haired witch did not sit well with her. She has been nuzzled a little too comfortably next to James, when Lily had approached the table, and now she blankly stared into space, as if intending to avoid responsibility. It was _her_ then, whom Lily decided to focus on. She will give that stupid space cadet brunette a peace of her mind. Later. Right now she had to get out of there, before losing it completely.

She grabbed her boyfriend's hand and yanked him to herself unceremoniously before hissing – "Let's go," and storming out of the Great Hall.

When everyone has finally stood up, Narcissa Black still hasn't moved, and sat there smiling, compulsively rubbing an exclusive emerald ring on her right hand. (An old uncle has given it her on her sixteenth birthday.)

She had just successfully instigated another crucial fight, without which she could not hope to coax Potter away from the girl whom he has loved for years. That Alice girl must have done her job quite nicely, informing Lily at the precisely correct moment during the course of the night on the whereabouts of the marauders.

Just like Narcissa told her to.


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8**Jealous**

"What were you thinking? James, this is unacceptable, after only having made up this morning, you go and hurt me like that the very same night! Twist the knife into my back a little deeper straight away!" Lily was beside herself with anger. "I know that I tend to overreact sometimes and I know that you must be sick of the scandals, but you instigate them, James! You instigate them!"

She now had tears in her eyes, and was continually throwing up her hands up in the air, pacing the room frantically.

"I'm sorry Lily, but Sirius asked me to go and play cards with his cousin! What was I supposed to do? I wanted to invite you, but since I had detention I didn't get a chance to see you beforehand. You have to understand that I _did__not_ want to hurt you. It just turned out that way." James was exhausted, his voice trembled in an exasperated manner, his vision was blurry, and his chest hurt from having her tiny hands scratch through it countless times.

"Yeah, right. Then who was that black haired witch? I've never seen her pretty face before! What was she doing there, all snuggled up on your left side? The two of you looked MIGHTY COMFORTABLE together." She threw up her hands and making a fist, slugged him as hard as she could in the shoulder.

"She wasn't… I wasn't… Wait. Who are you talking about? Goodness gracious! Lily! YOU ARE DRIVING ME INSANE!" He yelled and took off his glasses in order to wipe them a little bit. His vision now clearer, he looked back up again.

She momentarily staggered away from him, scared. Her red and blotchy face was full of fear and self-pity. Her usually nice and well kempt hair was now a bloody mess. Lily took several steps backwards and fell into an armchair, blinking at him from afar.

Seeing her tear stained face, his expression softened. "We've been over this a hundred times already! There is nothing going on. There is nobody else. There has not been and there still isn't. You know that, Lily. You. Know. That. Can't we just forget about the whole thing? Next time Padfoot asks for a card game partner, Ill just offer him you." He laughed at the last part, clearly enjoying his own joke, not knowing that he inadvertently hit a touchy spot.

Lily blinked away the rest of her tears and a slight smile could be seen on her face as well. She stood up and walking up to him, put both arms around his neck and kissed him lightly. James, relieved that the storm was over, threw an arm around her waist and pulled his temperamental girlfriend closer, kissing the top of her messy hair.

James looked around and kicked himself in the head for not doing so earlier. The entire Gryffindor common room was now staring at them from their various corners. Scowling, he quickly waved the nosy students off, threatening to take off house points, and grabbed his girlfriend's hand.

"Come on, Ill walk you back to the Ravenclaw dormitories."

With that, the perfect couple walked right out of the portrait and out of sight.

* * *

Sitting on her beautifully embroidered, silk adorned, beige bed Narcissa was filing her nails with the most innocent expression on her face. Her roommates were not in the dormitory at the moment, but she wouldn't have cared even if they were. As much as she didn't like them, she never let it show, and the three girls who have slept in the beds next to her for years were quite fond of their nearly perfect neighbor. Well, almost.

Georgiana, Charlotte and Amelie were model citizens of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, never having put a toe out of line in almost seven years, and never even dreaming about getting their beloved house in trouble, they therefore were very un-Slytherin like. Amelie Abbott was a truly sweet girl; naïve and sweet, nothing more, nothing less. Charlotte Diggory thought a lot of herself, vanity being her most prized characteristic; she would never risk her hind and reputation for anything, be it money or love or whatever else. And Georgiana… Georgiana was the most interesting of the three. She and Narcissa were more alike than either girl has ever realized.

Georgiana Malfoy was the twin sister of none other than Lucius himself. The siblings did not get along well, and almost never spent time together while at school. In fact their dysfunctional relationship could only be truly compared to the Black sisters' dysfunctional relationships. And even then one couldn't do it justice. Georgiana was pretty, empty headed and self-centered. Lucius was sly, smart and very motivated. Gianna hated his guts and she resented his ability to gain good favor of just about anyone by doing seemingly nothing at all when she had to bust her ass just to be "tolerated" not even really "liked". Lucius despised her social inadequacy, which he equated to stupidity; to him she was nothing more than mediocre, which she proved almost every day by failing to be well respected and popular, in other words by failing to follow his example. The much more intelligent brother resented having a sister who could single handedly muddy up his reputation just by opening her mouth and coming up with something utterly ridiculous while trying to appear clever.

Consequently he did everything in his power to keep the student body from finding out that the two were related, for almost seven years now.

He didn't bother to really get to know the girl, and if he did, he would have found out that in the past two years she has become quite more than the empty pretty shell of a person, and was actually catching up in smarts to her famous brother. She still did not care about anything but herself, but she learned how to behave in ways that made her at least **appear** intelligent and open-minded. And seeing as Narcissa was all about appearances, she would have been very proud of Georgiana, if she knew her well. If she cared at all about the people that surrounded her… But neither girl neither knew nor cared about what went on in other people's lives, as long as it didn't directly affect them.

Really, if only Georgiana and Narcissa took the time to befriend each other, they would have made a perfect and a quite natural duo.

Cissa was just finishing up her absent-minded manicure when no other than Georgiana herself walked in. Miss Malfoy skimmed the room lazily and smirked almost imperceptibly as she spotted her beautiful roommate. Gathering her facial features into something resembling very light contempt, Gianna nodded at Narcissa in the form of hello, and proceeded to shut the drapes around her own bed without waiting for a reciprocation. Cissa snorted loudly and getting to her feet walked around her nightstand to do the same. Having thus shut herself from view, she took her robes off, leaving on only a paper-thin slip for a gown. She couldn't care less about the insolent girl's callous treatment, which was due to pure jealousy. Everyone knew that her beauty paled in comparison to Cissa's and that her own brother was madly in love with Miss Black, who ignored him completely, thus letting him make a fool out of himself time and time again.

Climbing under the covers and leaning onto the headboard, she propped open a Potions book and stared at it without comprehension. There were much more entertaining thoughts running through her head just then. She could imagine quite clearly in her mind the fight that James Potter must be having at the moment with that impulsive girlfriend of his, and Narcissa couldn't help but smile happily to herself while visualizing the two of them yelling back and forth in one of their common rooms. It gave her great pleasure to know that she was the cause and the unseen instigator of another crucial step in breaking down of that rocky relationship. She had already thought up the new strategy to employ in a day or two, after the night's events had marinated for a bit, and she was more than sure that everything was going to work out in her favor.

The game was now on, and Narcissa was in it for the win. Lily Evans stood no chance.


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9 **Boys talk too**

James Potter walked rapidly along the seventh floor corridor exhaling slowly and barely restraining from breaking into a run. He had just dropped Lily off at the Ravenclaw tower and was in a hurry to get away from that part of the castle, lest she decided to come back out for another row.

He could not believe his luck. For once, in what seemed like months, he was having fun, enjoying himself and his friends' company, and she just had to show up and ruin it. He was really regretting not having enough courage to break it off earlier that day. And now he would have to suffer it out for at least another month, before he could get enough nerve to try and sever ties again. Which meant he would have wait that long before he could officially ask Narcissa out, since he now was _almost_ positive that she liked him back and would not object to his advances.

_Almost…_ He couldn't be all the way sure. Nothing was ever for certain when it came to that girl – and that was part of her appeal. She was so mysterious and unpredictable, funny and yet serious, beautiful and dangerous... And he liked all of it. He liked her cool reserved demeanor and her occasional impulsivity, her sense of humor and her manipulative nature. It was like she was five girls in one… She had the good girl, the smart girl, and the bad girl sides of her all worked out and perfectly balanced.

Despite what everyone might have thought she even had a little bit of Lily in her; but that bit was never taken to the extreme. And though James did not quite realize it, _that_ was one of the main things that drew him to her with such strong force.

All of a sudden there was a noise in the nearby corridor; James halted, craned his neck and stared into the dark.

"Hey," came a very familiar voice.

"Hey Sirius. You scared me mate. For a second there, I thought it was Lily coming back to yell at me some more." He laughed sketchily, but his friend did not join in. "What? Is something wrong, Sirius?"

"Not exactly. But I did want to talk to you about Lily. Can we walk?"

"Yeah… I was just on my way back to the common room, we can certainly walk together." James sounded apprehensive. Sirius's face was gloomy and his voice showed that he was definitely upset. "What about Lily, mate? Had she been complaining to you about me?"

"No. She hasn't. She hasn't done anything wrong at all, James. I really wish that you would see that. I don't know why you are doing this to her, but she does not deserve it. She's a great girl, who has inherited the unfortunate trait of being quick to lose her temper," he sighed and paused, looking intently at his friend. "So I guess it all comes down to this. I feel that it is my duty to warn you - _Either make a clean break right now or commit yourself to her_. And I mean, _really_ commit yourself. I cannot stand this any longer - watching silently from the sidelines as you torture her with your impressive indecisiveness. You are hurting her, slowly but surely."

Now it was James's turn to look grim. His face grew dark and his voice came out quite cracked up when he replied, - "I know." There was nothing else to say. He already knew all of this.

"And James, - it might not be my place, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to trust me with it, but…. Have you been cheating?"

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two best friends as each one ogled the other, as if daring him to do something awful and bad.

"No!" James stuttered finally. It was the truth. "No! What makes you say that? I have not done anything of the sort." _Yet, - _he thought desperately, hoping that his friend was not able to read his mind. "Sirius, I had a talk with her today and we have agreed to stay together! Hasn't she told you that? I would have thought that the whole school knew that by now."

"I know what you agreed upon and I know that it made her very happy, but I also know that it is not what **you** want. And it is not fair of you to give her what she wants right now, when we both know full well that sooner or later you are going to take it away. James, I beg you, break it off. Break it off now, before she gets in too deep! I don't even care if you did cheat on her – that is not the most important thing at the moment. What is important is solving it once and for all." Sirius had said all this with a pained expression on his young, handsome face. James was genuinely surprised to see his usually goofy friend looking so serious. He nodded, but did not respond. There was nothing that he could say that would make anyone feel better. He had to figure things out for himself first, and now he knew that he needed to hurry.

The boys kept walking in silence. They were both painfully aware that, since they've reached a point in their lives that called for such uncomfortable and overly mature conversations, it meant that they were definitely growing up.

If James was any less concerned with his own problems at the time, he might have noticed that Sirius was taking too keen of an interest in James' girlfriend as of late. He was looking at her more often and more intently; when he spoke to her it was in a much gentler voice than James has ever heard him use before; he was always eager to give up a seat or lend her a hand or carry her books when his friends weren't around. Lily's friends took that as a sign of care and concern due to James's recent behavior.

But in reality it was much more than just that. Sirius Black, the notorious player and eternal bachelor all of a sudden found himself getting attached to a female. He was starting to have feelings that he shouldn't have ever dreamed of having. Lily belonged to his best friend after all. But he couldn't help it. He loved her feistiness, her impulsivity and hot-headed stubbornness – something that her boyfriend had long since stopped appreciating.

Sirius wanted to protect her, to shield her from harm, to be near her and bring her nothing but happiness. He didn't understand why. He didn't want to understand why. He just wanted for those feelings to go away. He was asking for trouble. Big, dirty, confusing trouble.

Sirius Black has never been in love before and he wasn't even sure he knew what love was, but he was beginning to realize that the feelings he was now having toward the beautiful Miss Evans were well on their way to growing into love.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10Denial: friend or foe?

Lily woke up that morning feeling sick. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but her head was splitting and her stomach was cramping and she had the hardest time just getting out of bed. The headache was excruciating, and combined with a throbbing stomach it was getting to be unbearable. Thus instead going to her morning classes, she threw on the Hogwarts robes over her pajamas and marched straight up to the Hospital Wing.

On the way there, she began to replay the previous day in her mind. Lily was so happy that James and she made up that she tried to put the fight that they had less than ten hours ago completely out of her consciousness. _It didn't matter anymore,_ she reasoned. As long as they remained together, all the fights were worth it. All couples fight, that's the rule of life. Every happy moment has ten not-so pleasant ones leading up to it. She and James were no exception. They were in love and to her – that was all that mattered.

She couldn't see that _all _they were doing these days was fighting. Fighting became their default relationship. But she really did not want to see that. Lily was happy to continue living in denial. It was the easiest way. Denial is the best defense against the human pain. It is the only option for the sane, who loathe repression and displacement and external attribution. It's so much easier to just pretend; pretending can be done quite consciously and willingly, whereas the rest goes on so deep inside the mind we rarely know it's there.

With such thoughts on her mind, she finally reached the Hospital Wing. She fixed her robes to make sure that the pajamas were not showing, and slowly opened the infirmary door.

Stepping through the threshold, she quite unexpectedly found herself face to face with Narcissa Black, who seemed to be pleading with the nurse about something. Unfortunately Lily didn't get to hear what it was, because Narcissa stopped talking the second she heard the door open and stared at the newcomer with hatred in her eyes. Seeing that it was Lily Evans, she immediately softened her expression and said the friendliest 'hello' she could muster with a forced smile on her pretty face. Lily did the same, and after standing in silence for a few more seconds Miss Black turned back to Madam Pomfrey and said that the old healer should attend to Miss Evans right now and that she would come back to finish their conversation later. Madam Pomfrey didn't look too happy about that and quickly opened her mouth to protest, but Narcissa was already striding away.

She paused at the doorsill when a sudden thought occurred in her pretty little head. A mischievous grin escaped her lips while she stared at the door for a few seconds, thinking about it.

Deciding to seize the opportunity, Narcissa turned around and addressed Lily in a sweet little voice – "I do hope that James was a gentleman when he broke the news to you, Lily. I'm very sorry. I thought you should know."

And with that she swirled around and disappeared behind the door, leaving Lily to gape open-mouthed at the spot where she had been.

* * *

Looking very pleased with herself Narcissa walked down the hall; the argument she had with Madam Pomfrey gone from her mind. She couldn't believe her luck - running into that girl at the Hospital Wing was very fortunate. And causing havoc in her life was turning out to be not only easy but even fun. Such a simple, meaningless sentence, but what power it held within it! Lily was bound to run straight to James and raise such hell that the entire castle would probably be able to hear it. Nothing could please Narcissa more than to come out a victor in this very special game of hers. She was even beginning to lose interest in James himself, and gaining more interest in the game and the process of getting him. She still wanted to win him, that was not a question, but when she finally had him it would be more as an amazing trophy, not as a desirable guy. He was going to be a consolation prize for all her efforts. It wasn't about a boyfriend or a relationship anymore - it was now about the win.

* * *

Several corridors back, behind the closed door of the infirmary Lily was screaming.

"What the hell did she mean!?!"

Getting no reply, she stomped her feet and grabbing a lamp off the nearest nightstand flung it at the door. "What was that about? What was James supposed to tell me and what's it got to do with HER??"

The marbles in her head were loudly clicking. Every jealous thought she ever had came flying back. It took next to no time for Lily to figure what the conceited blonde was getting at. Although she couldn't believe it at first, she was forced to accept it as a fact fairly fast. After all, how could she have been so stupid? It was obvious to everyone but her. The poker night came swimming in her memory, the girl, the wolf, Petunia, Sirius, _Narcissa._ She should have known.

Suddenly she exploded with rage. Anger took over her entire system. Magic was seeping out of her now, her hair seemed to be rising upward and her eyes were changing color while she breathed faster and faster as she comprehended Narcissa Black's words.

All of a sudden she yelled - "THAT WHORE!" and with a simple wave of her hand, the bed near which she was standing rose into the air, performed a flying salto and landed with a crash ten feet away from where it used to be. Yet Lily didn't seem to notice and only paced the room with a quick step.

Madam Pomfrey however, noticed very much. The storm that the young girl was raging was a display of some pretty powerful and advanced magic to be done without a wand. The muggle-born witch possessed extraordinary power, and that scared Poppy almost as much as the look on Lily's face. That hideous expression frightened Poppy Pomfrey more than any kind of ugly wound she ever ran across during her years as a healer.

As Lily inadvertently moved on to another bed, and was about to destroy the living hell out of it, Madam Pomfrey jumped so high she might have hit the ceiling if it wasn't magically enchanted to always stay five feet above the tallest human in the room. She landed awkwardly and stumbling backwards ran for cover, away from the raging girl. She had never seen a student lose it like this before. Silently she wished the headmaster was there to tell her what to do in such an extreme situation. But she was all alone, and the pressing problem needed to be fixed no matter what, so she decided to try a peaceful approach before turning to desperate measures.

"Miss Evans, please calm down! What was it that you needed to see me about?" She feebly tried to change the subject and draw attention to herself, but to no avail. Lily turned around, but she didn't seem to notice that there was anyone else still in the room. Her eyes were full of anger, and her mind was somewhere else – she was desperately searching for something in her memory and wasn't finding it. She stared blankly in front of her. Silence enveloped the empty room like a protective cocoon.

Braving herself up, the healer addressed Lily again - "Miss Evans, are you alright? You don't look well, my dear… Why don't you lay down and we can see what is wrong?"

"Leave me alone," – Lily spat at her through gritted teeth and spun around to face the exit. Her stomachache forgotten, and her head now hurting endlessly non-stop, she flicked a wrist – the door flew open and the girl walked off without a word.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Without a goal.

Narcissa Black strolled along the corridor, immersed in her own thoughts, not noticing a thing around her. Her hair was tied in a messy bun and a few blond strands were escaping and falling seductively onto her eyes and cheekbones. A silk, red scarf was draped around her neck and the plain Hogwarts robes were adorned with a golden-embroidered custom-made pattern. A bell has rung in the distance and students were now filling out of classrooms along the corridor and up ahead. Narcissa however, walked all alone and responded to no one who had the audacity to say hello to her just then.

And then all of a sudden, while stroking her ring absentmindedly, she felt a hand on her left shoulder and a shudder ran throughout her upper body in a jolt.

"Narcissa," someone whispered softly in her ear and propelling her a few steps forward pushed her gently up against the wall.

Quickly recovering from shock Narcissa took a deep breath before exhaling – "Lucius. How nice to see you."

"Hold the sarcasm, my dear. You know that I mean well."

"Yeah. Whatever. What do you want? I'm late for my next class." She was in no mood for small talk. She really didn't give a damn about what he had to say and was already fidgeting, waiting for a right moment to slip out of his grip and leave.

He rolled his eyes and his face took on a serious expression. "It's important, Cissa. Listen to me. What the hell are you doing to Lily Evans? That girl is beginning to lose her mind. Not that I care. Lord knows that loss would be just _tragic_. But it will soon be obvious that you are behind it and I can't let you get in trouble for something as stupid as that."

Vaguely, as if from far, far away she heard his voice and registered two words out of the entire sentence. Lily Evans.

Her body tensing up, Narcissa immediately stopped fidgeting and inching away from him. She paused; her full attention was captured.

"What? What do you mean?" She instinctively moved closer to him and lifting up her chin looked straight into his clear gray eyes.

Lucius, who was obviously enjoying their growing proximity, remained silent and only lowered his hand slowly from her shoulder onto her waist.

She waited for an answer no longer than a few seconds, before grabbing his hand and forcefully pushing him around a corner, through a tapestry and down a dark hidden passageway, where she abruptly stopped and leaning in close to his face whispered – "What do you know Lucius? Tell me everything and don't leave out a single detail."

* * *

With a steady step, Lily Evans walked into her dormitory having already calmed down considerably, fifteen minutes after leaving the hospital wing. Her roommates were gone, probably off to their lessons since there was still one more class before lunch. 

Not bothering to shut the door behind her, Lily walked quietly to her bed and crumbling upon it, she started to cry.

Suddenly she heard a quiet knock behind her and turning around saw her sister standing five feet away. Wiping off a few tears, she stood up and walked forward, straight past Petunia, halting at the wide-open door. Lily looked at her sister for several seconds before reaching out and slamming it shut. She then turned around and crossing her arms waited silently for her sister to speak.

"Hi Lily." Petunia finally managed. "Pretty day, huh." She laughed awkwardly and took a few steps toward a worn-out chair that stood underneath the window of the small, dumpy room. "Well, how've you been?"

"I'm fine, Petunia. Here on the behalf of your best friend?" Lily sounded calm but resentful. Every word was spoken with obvious difficulty - she could barely look Petunia in the eyes without anger firing up inside.

"Who? Oh. Well no." She looked uncomfortable and completely miserable. Peta Evans couldn't bring herself to talk – the girl who lived for gossip. It was ironic to say the least. That girl had suddenly clammed up - closed her (normally yapping) mouth tightly, forming a very straight line with her thin yellowish lips and waited for something.

For several minutes the sisters just looked at each other without saying a word.

No matter how hard she tried, Lily couldn't figure out a reason for her visit, so she rearranged her face into a scowl and continued to calmly stare at Petunia from several feet away. Her frustration was growing – resentment and pain started taking over her body. She hated her sister. She hated Petunia for all of the rumors she spread about her, for all of the lies that she told to their parents, for stealing her things when they were little girls, for the sisterly love that they have never shared… she hated her for never being a real sister.

Lily blinked and her anger was gone, it was replaced with a mind-numbing pity. She breathed in and wanted to say something, but couldn't.

That's when it happened again – Lily's hair started changing color – the strawberry red was turning into a fiery scarlet, her eyes began to sparkle the color of poisonous green and her skin was emitting a faint blue glow. The furniture in the room started trembling and a low, crackling noise could be heard overhead. The beds began to move and to Petunia's great surprise, the sky outside had turned a muddy dark-gray color as a lightning bolt struck nearby.

Petunia yelped and flinging her hands over her face, threw herself onto the floor in an effort to get out of the line of fire. Lily was breathing really hard, louder and louder, as her hair flapped about in the non-existent wind her arms were slowly lifting up as if they always moved around of their own accord. The sight was nothing short of scary.

In that moment Peta Evans deeply regretted the stupid decision of coming to see her sister at all. What was she hoping to accomplish with it? What was this visit suppose to fix? Nothing. Because you can't fix something that you never had. They never had a good relationship. They grew apart when they had reached the age of eight. She knew it, Lily knew it, even their parents were well aware that the girls were not that close. When they have gotten wind of being witches, the competition for perfection pushed them even father apart. Petunia has never been pretty. Or smart; or particularly good at anything. And Lily has always shown the signs of being special – her many talents pegged her as a person who was going to go far in life. Her magic was powerful, her determination was impressive, her intelligence was quite impeccable - her sister could never even dream of ever catching up to that.

It just so happened that Miss Lily Evans' magic still had some room to grow, and grow it did – in all those years since they entered Hogwarts Lily, as it seems, was learning quite a few new things. Like wandless magic and element control and who knows what else… - Petunia wasn't particularly eager to find out.

She screamed and tried to crawl under a bed, but it was full of trunks and owl cages. She stopped the struggling and listened to the silence for a second. A few minutes have passed and nothing was happening. The noise was gone, she couldn't hear Lily's breathing and the sky was back to being friendly light-hued indigo. Petunia thought that she might have gone deaf – so she chanced a quick glance behind her and saw her sister out-cold, laying in a heap near the door, her hair streaked with silver and her lips a deathly blue.

* * *

Lucius was in the midst of telling his lovely Narcissa about what he overheard in the courtyard a few days ago when the drapery opened and the secret passageway in which they were hiding was briefly filled with light. The two of them stopped talking immediately and awkwardly hugging the wall, the tall pompous boy instantly squashed his blonde-haired lady against it, put a finger up to her lips and froze. They couldn't see a thing in the impeding darkness, and thus had no idea who just interrupted their first-ever moment of perfectly getting along. 

"Are you sure this stairway is safe, Prongs? And it isn't a trap? I've never heard of it before, and I thought we had all of the Hogwarts passages on that map we've been making," - a strained, tired voice just spoke up in the dark.

"It's real Moony, we just haven't explored this part of the castle that much, which just means that we have quite a bit left to add to our map. I've heard about it from Arthur Weasley, that redheaded bloke who graduated two years ago. Ran into him at the Diagon Alley this summer. But I've been so busy this year that searching for more Hogwarts secrets hasn't been the first thing on my mind."

"Oh yeah, I remember him. Isn't he dating Molly Prewett? The short-looking Hufflepuff prefect girl?"

"Married her, 'far as I heard. They've always been blissfully happy, Moony. I never understood how two people could get along so well. I can only dream of having a marriage like they have someday."

"Heh. So things haven't been improving with Lily?"

At hearing this Narcissa perked up, and Lucius felt her body become stiffer against his. The two of them were barely breathing now, trying not to miss a single word.

"Not so much. She's been driving me crazy. I don't know what to do. I love her, you know. But I can't keep on going like this – having a fight every day. It's like I am always walking on needles – I never know when I'll do something wrong and what pisses her off. It shouldn't be this hard. Girls shouldn't be _this_ complicated." He sighed and stopped walking.

"I'm sorry mate. I know how much you she means to you. All these years of chasing after her, we were beginning to think you were crazy for liking _one_ girl _that_ much."

"_Thank you,_Moony! I'm glad to see that someone understands me. Sirius seems to think that I am doing something horrible to her by not breaking up with her and not telling her how I really feel… But she knows how I really feel, mate! She does – she knows that it hasn't been working. She knows that I tried and tried to save what we had, but it just didn't work. She doesn't want to let me go and I get that, but if she doesn't start working on our issues too then we don't stand a chance." The two of them started moving down the passageway very slowly, carefully stepping onto each of the unknown stone steps.

Remus went on - "I don't think you're being horrible. But I do think that you need to wrap this thing up pretty soon. We are all sick of seeing the two of you being so miserable." He sounded very sympathetic and honest. He decided not to mention the fact that he was beginning to guess the origin of his friend's newfound interest in the Slytherin house, so instead of accusing James of cheating on Lily, he decided to bring up the fact that Lily might soon be cheating on James. "On a different note - there might be another reason for Sirius telling you that… I think he has a thing for Lily, just so you know."

"What?! What did you just say?"- James wasn't expecting that, and turning around too quickly he lost footing and went crashing down the remaining five steps, landing headfirst in a dull wooden door at the bottom of the hidden stairwell. Narcissa and Lucius who were cowering in a fine, shallow niche in the wall near the bottom felt a gush of wind and a body went flying right past them, which inadvertently brushed against Lucius's behind before hitting the floor with a thud.

Narcissa clasped a hand to her mouth to prevent herself from crying out and Lucius pressed her slim form even harder against himself, using the side of his robes to hide her face from view.

"James! Are you alright?" The second body rushed right past them, and at hearing James Potter cough they knew that he was alive.

"Ya. My head hurts though." James started laughing, although a hint of pain was evident in the attempt to brush off his stupidity. With that, he stammered up and the two Marauders opened the door, illuminating the stairway once again before exiting, thus leaving the two Slytherins alone in the dark.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Mixed Signals.**

"See! I told you! What did I tell you! See, Lucius! I was right." Narcissa exclaimed triumphantly as soon as the Gryffindors disappeared. She was getting slightly overexcited. Her companion was lightly smiling, while still managing to sport a confused expression on his normally cold face.

"Hmm. That is very odd indeed. I never would have thought that was true…"

"My cousin is sleeping with Lily Evans, and she feels so guilty for doing it that she can't stop chasing after Potter just to prove to herself that she is still good and respectable, and not a lying, immoral wench."

"Yes, but why are YOU chasing after Potter, my dear, darling, Narcissa? I don't particularly care what or whom that peacock-brained Gryffindor dates or does, as long as it's not you. You cannot seriously be telling me that you are genuinely interested in him?"

Narcissa bit her lip and looked away from him for the first time in nearly ten minutes. Lucius and Narcissa have been having the conversation that the two of them have never dreamed of having. They were finally being honest, they were finally being friendly, responsive… understanding.

He was showing her a side of him that she has never cared to see before, a side which was now causing her to spill the beans to him as if they've been best friends for years.

"I don't know, Lucius. Honestly, I don't know anymore. I like him. Liked him." Her face lit up unconsciously, a vibrant smile appeared on her lips and her eyes took on a dreamy state.

"He's exciting and he is handsome… Every time I look at him, I just want - " She trailed off, quickly coming to her senses and suddenly remembering that the boy she was talking to was in love with her. All at once, she got a funny feeling in her throat and realized that she didn't want to hurt him. It was Lucius Malfoy she was talking to and yet for once, she didn't want to cause him pain. Out of the blue, she felt herself trying to soften the blow – she didn't want to tell Lucius about her love life, if he would never be a part of it.

" I mean, umm…umm… He's, he's…" - but she couldn't find the right words to cover up what had already escaped her lips and was rather obvious.

Somehow she just couldn't stop herself from telling the truth once she had started, so with a sigh, she finished what she was saying - "He is just everything that a seventeen year old boy ought to be."

Narcissa blurted it out and looked up with difficulty into his pain-filled eyes. She didn't mean to say it, she didn't want to say it, but she had to.

Lucius didn't respond right away. He wasn't moving. He was just staring at her- his face was calm, his mouth was not frowning. Narcissa didn't know what to do – before she could say anything else, she first needed to see what kind of a reaction her words had elicited, yet he wasn't betraying any reactions. Finally after two minutes of silence, he spoke-

"I understand."

That's all he told her. That's all that she needed to hear right then. She didn't need to say anything else to him - he knew exactly what she meant; and he didn't owe her any other response than the one he just gave her and the one she was about to contest.

"You understand? What do you mean, Lucius?"

"I get it, Cissa. It's okay. I can wait." He was determined to be brief about it. He didn't doubt that Narcissa knew what he meant. She was a clever girl, - he would never have gone after her if she weren't. But she was finally playing her part – the feminine part - the sort of role she only played with suitors. 'Playing dumb' was the ultimate card that a girl who wished to keep flirting would use. It cheered him up slightly, but he knew she wasn't ready. She didn't mean to do it, she just said it on a reflex – she didn't really wish to flirt with him just then. He would have to wait.

Lucius released her arm and smiled sadly at the girl beside him. Turning around, he began to walk away.

"Wha-.. Wait, Lucius!" She called after him. She didn't want him to leave. Against her plan and against her better judgment, she wanted him to stay. She didn't know why, she couldn't really tell for sure what had prompted her to "feel for" Lucius Malfoy, but she was feeling guilty, sympathetic and for some reason - jittery.

He stopped at the sound of her soft little voice and turned around one more time. Narcissa was standing with her mouth slightly opened, her big blue eyes were very wide, and for the first time in the eight years he had known her, she looked weak and vulnerable… and completely irresistible…

With a decisive stride, he sharply swung himself around, took the three required steps straight back to her and scooping Narcissa up into his big strong arms - he kissed her. The action took her by surprise, despite the fact that deep inside she's been expecting it. She closed her eyes and for a second lost herself inside his soft but urgent lips.

His embrace was full of force and his hands shook her roughly as their balance was lost, but his lips remained quite tender. After finding his footing again, Lucius lifted her up with his left arm and tilted her head back with the right one. Her own arms went limp as she silently succumbed to his strength and his passion. Narcissa was lost in _his_world.

The kiss lasted no more than thirty seconds. Yet it felt like forever. When Lucius finally released her, Narcissa was breathless. All she could do was pant slightly for a minute or two before gaining composure again. She pulled herself up to full height and adjusted the robes, which were now crumpled in places.

Taking a step closer to him, she paused to consider her options for a moment. Narrowing her eyes, Narcissa took a deep breath and slapped him.

"Goodbye, Lucius," she said and ran as fast as she could up the steps to the exit. He watched her go in silence.

"Be careful, Cissa," Lucius whispered almost inaudibly, as she disappeared behind the tapestry.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N - Hey all. Sorry it is so short again, but alas - time is not something I have a lot of right now. Here is a small chapter called "Happily Blank" - enjoy )

Chapter 13

**Happily blank**

Lily woke up in the hospital wing fifteen hours later, having passed out in front of her sister in the Ravenclaw dorms. A petrified Petunia had to use a levitating charm to get her back to Madam Pomfrey to make sure that she wasn't dead. After getting an affirmative from the nurse that her sister was alive, Petunia left the infirmary straight away, shaken up and utterly bewildered. She had never before seen Lily exhibit that kind of power in any type of circumstance. She didn't even know _what_ her sister did and _how_ that power worked… It was undoubtedly unsettling news for Petunia Evans. Having a freakishly powerful sibling could potentially overshadow her not only within the walls of this school, but ultimately - for life. Which is why she decided not to tell anyone about what happened, not even Lily, and hope that such an accident would never happen again.

When Lily woke up, she didn't immediately recognize where she was. She stared around the long, rectangular room and the empty white beds, and for a second thought that she was dreaming. Only when the nurse came hurrying down the row of beds towards her, did she suddenly recall that she hit her head really hard on a door handle before passing out in the dormitory.

"Miss Evans! Thank Merlin – you are conscious. I wasn't sure how long it would take for you to wake up, for of course the longer you remained unconscious, the worse your chances at full recovery would have been." The nurse halted and checked Lily's vital signs, before pronouncing- "Well, there you are… Good as new. You should be able to return to your classes tomorrow morning." She smiled gently. Lily didn't say a word this entire time and just looked at the elderly witch indifferently. She nodded at those last words and turned her head away towards the other side of the room. She needed the rest and welcomed the opportunity to sleep in the hospital wing for the night, since returning to her dormitory would have meant answering millions of annoying questions.

She closed her eyes and wondered how she managed to hit that doorknob so hard. She replayed the scenes of that day in her head but all that she could remember was the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey… As much as she tried, Lily could not remember any of the events leading up to that ludicrous "accident"… Finally she just had to conclude that she must have been overly clumsy when she was leaving her room half-asleep in search of an early breakfast. The thought satisfied her curiosity for the time being and with that Lily Evans closed her eyes once again and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

James Potter was at a loss. He could not, no matter how hard he tried, even if his life depended on it, come up with a suitable plan of action regarding his girlfriend and his best friend. He sat in the Great Hall, pushing his breakfast around on the plate while gazing absent-mindedly at the enchanted ceiling. He didn't know for sure if there was even anything going on between Lily and Sirius, but Remus was positive that there _could be_, and that was the main point. James couldn't even decide on how he felt about that. Was he happy? Relieved? Upset? Livid? A little bit of all of the above?

He has wanted to get rid of Lily for a while now, and here was his golden opportunity, but now a tiny bit of ill-founded jealousy had gotten in the mix. He supposed that it actually made sense - it would explain why Sirius was so worried about his relationship and why he was constantly urging James to treat Lily better. _But the nerve of him! How could he – James' Best friend, develop feelings for James' girlfriend without asking James first! It was unacceptable. _And yet – he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to pick a fight with Sirius and he certainly didn't want to confront Lily about it, lest she admitted everything to him tearfully and promptly cry herself into a coma, thus enraging Sirius even more. James sighed and frowned at his porridge. He needed it to discuss the matter with Remus one more time before deciding on the best action.

Putting the fork down, James looked over at the Slytherin table and sent a timid smile Narcissa's way. She quickly returned it before winking at him and glancing guiltily at Lucius who was sitting two benches away. James followed her gaze and saw Lucius Malfoy glaring back with pure hatred in his cold, gray eyes. _What the hell?_ – thought James. _What is Lucius's problem? I haven't given his sister the time of day for a couple of years now, since the Christmas ball back in our 4__th__ year._ There is nothing he could be mad at James about… Is there? But he didn't get a chance to dwell on that, for in that moment the very person whom he least wanted to see approached the Gryffindor table and flung her arms around him.

"Hiii!"- Lily breathed cheerfully into his ear and giggled. She seemed to be extremely happy for it being so early in the morning.

"Hi…" he replied, eyeing her suspiciously. _ What is she so happy about?_ – James asked himself, before resolving not to bring up the Sirius thing with her just yet.

Lily bent down and kissed him on the forehead before sitting down next to him and pouring them both some orange juice. "I just got back from the hospital wing. Apparently I hit my head rather badly yesterday and Madam Pomfrey had to mend me up a bit." She told him merrily in between taking gulps of her drink.

"Indeed?" James was surprised to hear that. He hadn't seen her at all the day before and simply thought that she was immersed in her studying, not laying in the hospital bed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. No biggie. It's just a bump. I'm sure you've had worse with your extreme Quidditch practices." She said without looking at him while she pulled plates of chicken, mashed potatoes, pancakes, waffles and muffins towards herself. James watched her in shock, unable to come up with anything to say to that.

Lily was hardly noticing the bewildered expression on her boyfriend's face, in the midst of swallowing spoonfuls of everything that was in front of her. He hadn't seen her so happy since he gave her an anniversary present two months ago and she declared that she had never seen anything as pretty as the necklace he bought. Unsure of how he felt about this newfound happiness his girlfriend seemed to be exhibiting, James got up from the bench and muttering something about unfinished homework took off from Great Hall. As he was walking through the double doors he turned around to find Lily still sitting in the same place where he left her, waving cheerfully at him with one hand and pulling more food towards herself with another.

_She __must__ have hit her head hard,_ he thought, _she didn't try to pick a fight with me even once throughout breakfast. _


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

"Tension"

Narcissa Black was rather puzzled – something she had just seen in the Great Hall disturbed her peaceful mood. One minute she was capturing James Potter's attention and getting very positive feedback from the man himself, and the next minute Lily Evans was swooping down on him as if nothing was wrong. _But it was wrong! It was, it WAS!_ Narcissa had seen to it herself. She was sure that Lily Evans was mad, hurt and completely resentful toward her soon-to-be-former boyfriend. She should have been burning all the pictures of him and cursing every gift he ever gave her right now. SO what was she doing cuddling up to him instead!?

_This was wrong… this is all wrong. What the hell is happening?-_ She thought desperately. She tried her hardest to put a gap between the two of them for weeks! Just yesterday she pretty much told Lily that James was almost cheating… Knowing the stories of Lily's short-lived temper well, Narcissa fully expected her to blow up at him and seal the deal! _Why didn't she?_

And just then she saw James get up and walk away, leaving his Ravenclaw girlfriend all alone at the Griffyndor table. This startled Narcissa even more. Did he not want her there? For, certainly, if she was there and in such a happy mood, it must have meant that they made up? Or they didn't…

_Hmm. Now that's more like it_ – she finally thought. Tapping a silver fork mechanically on the wooden Slytherin table, she pondered her options for several seconds. Turning her pretty blonde head left and right, she scanned the Great Hall. Intrigued, she decided that it was time to move into the open and talk to him one on one. So she swiftly raised herself off the bench, checking first to make sure that Lucius didn't notice, and quickly followed James out into the main entrance corridor.

"James. Wait,"- her voice was cool and clear. There wasn't a single pleading or questioning note about the tone in which she said it. It was a request, a request she knew he would honor.

James Potter turned around, entirely not expecting to see Narcissa Black standing ten feet away.

"Hey.." He said uncertainly. For all of the tension between them, and all of the weird games that they've been playing, he never actually got any action or seen her do exactly what she was doing right then.

"How've you been?" - she smiled goofily, a smile that did nothing to flatter her perfectly serious face.

"Fine, I suppose." He returned her goofy smile in a much more elegant manner, for on James Potter goofiness was charming and natural. "How have your classes been going - …" he started timidly, but was immediately cut off.

"No," Narcissa said decisively. "No James. I didn't come out here for small talk." She approached him with such an air of confidence that several first years paused to stare at the handsome twosome.

She was now less than a foot away. James inhaled rapidly and ran a hand through his messy black hair. She was so beautiful, so breathtaking – his composure was beginning to falter and he was ready to throw caution to the winds… But she stopped dead a good ten inches from where his hands could easily touch her.

Narcissa narrowed her eyes and folded her arms in front of her chest. "Are you or are you not in love with Lily Evans?" she asked without a preamble. James blinked and slowly comprehended her words.

_That_ he did not expect. His whole system urged James to go on the defensive.

"I… I…-" James stuttered. "I, what? What is it to you?" He blabbered the last part, without thinking and without meaning to offend her. But the damage was done. Narcissa uncrossed her arms and withdrew several feet back. "Narcissa, wait – I didn't mean that!"

"So you think I shouldn't care?" - she hissed. Tossing her head gaily to the side, Narcissa chuckled sadly. Lifting her big blue eyes to look at him again, she whispered softly - "Is all of this a joke to you Potter? You toy with your girlfriend's feelings just for fun?"

The best thing about Narcissa Black was that she didn't yell. James didn't say anything. He was thinking; thinking about how to best salvage the foolhardy situation he had just gotten himself into. _She is confronted with a blabbering fool, like myself, who just insulted her without wanting to do it – and she is not even upset!_

That was such a change for James that he was startled into silence and could do nothing but gape at the pretty girl. _Wow, what a girl… If I am lucky enough, some day I will marry a girl like her… Except I'm not that lucky. _Nothing else seemed to go through his head. For a second he forgot where he was and why he was there.

"Well?" she urged him impatiently. "Are you going to talk sometime today or what?"

Finally finding his voice, he hoarsely bleated - "Narcissa, you're breathtaking. You're classy and poised and you really understand what guys want… How can I possibly not want you?"

Slowly, James inched toward Narcissa, and ever so timidly his hands slid up her back until he embraced her tighter and tighter, until his lips were on hers and nothing else mattered. Her hands quickly found his black, unkempt hair and her heart slowed to a tune of a leisurely waltz. Quite possibly, she had never in her life felt so giddy. Their lips broke apart but their noses kept touching and their bodies remained pressed against each other while the two young people caught their breath. Although his mind was still dazed, James was relieved to see that "his" lady was smiling. He allowed a small laugh to escape his moist lips before kissing her forehead. Narcissa laughed too as she pressed a palm of her very pale hand to his chest while involuntarily shrugging her shoulders and slowly leaning back into him.

Unfortunately for Narcissa and James, that was the precise moment Lily Evans chose to come out of the Great Hall. Her loud gasp caught their attention and for a second, which seemed like an eternity, the three of them stared at one another– and then without saying a word Lily marched right past the flabbergasted couple and walked up the stairs with as much dignity as she could muster.

* * *

A/N This is completely un-betaed, so if you see any typos and such please let me know lol. And enjoy !

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15. **"Of girls and secrets"**

Georgiana Malfoy had always gotten everything her way. Her parents spoiled their two children rotten and even though her brother was their favorite, she still received an enormous amount of affection and gifts while growing up. Which is why now she was losing her mind – because something was not going her way and no one, not even her parents, had the power to fix it.

Her problem was simple – Georgiana was hopelessly and desperately in love with a wizard who didn't know that she existed. Well, he might have noticed her presence in their shared lessons once or twice, but she was not entirely sure he even remembered her name. To him, she was probably just "Lucius's sister," the girl whose brother was a pompous prefect and who had never done anything to try and outshine said brother in any way. This boy was not a friend of Lucius's, but he certainly knew as well as highly disliked the Slytherin prefect. Georgiana sometimes feared that it gave **him** yet another reason to not pay attention to her – since she was the sister of 'that haughty Malfoy kid'. Georgiana has liked this boy for over three months now, since he got back from summer vacation looking taller and darker and handsomer than ever.

She envied the Gryffindors for they got to have him in their house, and she hated the fact that as a Slytherin she stood next to no chance of befriending anybody from his social circle. And above all else - she envied Narcissa Black. Oh how she envied _her_… She never told anyone that she resented Narcissa for the sole reason that she knew **him**, and she knew** him** very well. For of course, **he** was no other than her cousin – Sirius Black.

Today an extra well-groomed Ms. Malfoy was sitting outside of Transfiguration, waiting for Sirius to walk by, so she could stare at his handsome face and pine over him from afar. But alas, the bell had rung already and she was forced to enter the classroom, and he still hasn't passed by on his way to History of Magic. It was his usual route - she had his schedule memorized; and as far as she knew there was no Quidditch practice that day to excuse him from class. Disappointed, she stood up and looked around the corridor once more, pouting, before giving up and walking into McGonnagal's class.

At the same time Sirius Black was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with his head in his arms and pondered his options. Christmas Vacation was only two days away and he would be going home to visit his parents, whom he could not stand. His brother Regulus had found him the day before to pass a message from their mother – the boys were to apparate home no later than five o'clock on Christmas Eve or else they'd be in big trouble.

He didn't feel like going to class today and had asked James to make excuses for him. James agreed a little too eagerly, as if he was happy to get rid of Sirius for a day and was rather looking forward to spending the morning classes without him. It bothered Sirius slightly, but he had bigger problems on his hands. Like surviving the Christmas Holidays at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He knew that this year he wouldn't be able to hide out in his bedroom the entire time because two different sets of relatives were coming to stay with the London Blacks for a while. Among them was Narcissa and Bellatrix's family. He actually kind of looked forward to having Cissy there to save him from the usual atrocities, but unfortunately she was not going to outnumber the remaining fifteen people.

Sighing Sirius got up from his armchair and walked once around the empty room. Most of the students were in their morning classes and the Gryffindor tower stood empty save for Sirius Black who was already mourning the fact that he was leaving it in two days. And that was only for a week! Whatever was he going to do when five months after that when he would have to leave it forever?

Not wanting to even think about that, Sirius ran up the stairs to his dormitory and after rummaging in his overflowing trunk pulled out his wand. For a minute he just stared at it; but having reached a decision, he got up and with a decisive step strolled over to James's trunk to fetch the invisibility cloak. He still had a little over 48 hours before he had to see his mum and dad, and he was not going to waste them.

* * *

Narcissa was quietly humming under her breath as she cut up her gurdyroots in Potions that morning. Professor Slughorn gave her an encouraging smile as he passed by her cauldron and moved on to Severus Snape's deliciously smelling concoction. 

"Ah, Severus, my boy! That looks lovely! Felix Felicis had never looked this good when done by a student before! Ten points to Slytherin." He beamed at the self-pleased expression on Snape's sunken face.

"Thank you, sir." The lanky and overly thin wizard responded. Just as he said that, the bell rang to signal the end of their lesson and students began packing up.

"Sir? Can I ask you something?"

"Ask away, my boy," Slughorn replied inattentively. Snape however perked up, looked around the classroom and lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper.

"Professor, I was wondering…" - he halted for a moment, as if embarrassed by what he was about to say. Finally he decided to just spit it out - "Sir, how do love potions work?"

Slughorn stopped dead and chuckled heartily at him. He didn't bother lowering his voice and pronounced loudly to the nearly empty classroom – "Love potions, my boy? Why in the name of Merlin would you want to know that? You're an attractive, clever boy that witches should be swarming around!"

Snape snorted at such a description of himself, but didn't comment. Instead he glanced irritably at Narcissa Black, who seemed to be putting away her ingredients rather reluctantly and turned back to Slughorn, scowling - "It's not for me, Professor. I… I just think that I may know someone who is… under the influences of it."

"Really? Who?" Slughorn seemed mildly interested.  
"Well, it's rather private, sir… Could you just tell me how it works?"

"Well of course, my boy. Why don't you come by the Slug Club's little gathering tonight at 8. My office. Several of your friends are going to be there, I believe. We'll share stories, have a good laugh and talk about love potions! And make a night of it."

Snape seemed taken aback at such a sudden invitation to join the precious "Slug Club." He ogled the professor maddeningly and nearly dropped a book into his cauldron. The truth was that Severus had hardly wanted to discuss the matter in a large group, especially in front people like Lucius Malfoy and Robertius Nott. Yet he had no choice but to agree.

So Snape accepted Slughorn's invitation grudgingly and left the classroom at a run.

He failed to see Narcissa standing just behind the door frame, obviously eavesdropping. She didn't look happy anymore.

* * *

"James, wait!" Lupin yelled across the corridor. "Where do you think you're going? I thought we had made plans to explore the North wing one more time." 

"Errr… Moony, I don't feel like it today. Could we do it another time? I'd rather go and take a nice long nap in my warm dormitory."

"Alright. I guess we could do that. Have you made any progress on Sirius Lily thing?"

"Oh, that's right. You haven't heard. I'm dating Narcissa Black now."

Remus choked on his saliva as he sputtered - "Excuse me? What? WHO? Since WHEN?"

Blinking several times at James's bemused expression, he thought that he probably overplayed it a bit. Even James could tell that. Remus Lupin's acting skills were horrid.

"Since yesterday. Lily caught us making out in the hall, so the cat's out of the bag now. Had no choice but announce to the entire school that Narcissa and I were together." He paused and then added as an afterthought – "Even though that was our very first kiss ever and we haven't spent as much as an hour alone together yet." He shrugged and started walking again.

"Wow. You seem to have a knack for getting yourself into these kinds of messes, mate. Though, can't say I'm surprised. I knew you were sweet on her. I just didn't want to say anything…"

James nodded indifferently and kept moving down the hall. "So you want to sneak into Hogsmeade with us tomorrow? The break is in 2 days and she wanted to buy some Christmas presents at the village."

"She? As in - Narcissa?"

"Who else would it be? Don't be thick, Remus, what's done is done. Be more excited about it!" James laughed and slapped him on the back just as a huge crowd of students suddenly swept past them.

Looking around the now-full corridor, Remus decided that the Gryffindor common room sounded great after all, so giving James a gentle push, he too set off towards the Gryffindor tower.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas'**

**A/N Hi gang! It's been a while, but now that Im back from Europe I will be posting again. That is if people havent lost interest in this story. heh. So sorry about the long wait, I actually had this chapter written before I left and I thought that I posted it. But I didnt... Well here it is, it is what you call more of a "in-between" chapter, but necessary cuz it motivates the author to keep going to the more important ones. Hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoy the read;) **

Severus Snape walked into the Potions Master's office at half past eight and froze at the doorstep. There were nine other students there, already sitting on various chairs and cushions, drinking butter beer and laughing at Slughorn's dry jokes. He looked around and saw Lucius Malfoy snickering at him from the prime seat in front of the fire. Snape nodded at him and moved forward in order to shake the professor's hand.

"Severus, ah, you made it! Come in, come in, m'boy," Slughorn chirped as soon as his beady eyes found the newest addition to his private party.

"Hullo," mumbled Snape and took a seat in the farthest corner he could find.

"As I was saying, Professor," a large, sturdy boy with black hair spoke up again, "the Felicis potion is just a dream come true! I have never had a better time in my entire life than those few precious hours my father has given me by brewing that gem of a potion."

"Of course Perkins, of course you would say that. Felix Felicis is powerful in many ways and it can cloud our minds and senses if we overuse it even by a drop! I am not surprised that you fell in love with it immediately." Horace Slughorn chuckled loudly and turned his gaze to Snape instead. "As a matter of fact, Severus here has an entertaining love story of his own to tell us! While we're on the subject, you know," – he winked at the black-haired boy who raved about Felicis.

Severus turned red in an instant as all the eyes were once again on him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lucius smirking harder than ever – his eyebrow was raised in mockery as he mouthed "love story?" soundlessly at Snape.

"Um. Sir, I don't actually have a story. I just wanted you to tell me the… uhhh… the effects of a lvption…. Sir." Snape squashed the last two words together in his hurry to get them out. He sounded quite timid as he stumbled over words and restrained himself with difficulty from running out of the room instead. The wreaths of holly hung from the tall ceiling above his head and a small Christmas tree sparkled in the corner, mocking Severus with its cheerfully bright lights. He felt anything but cheerful. With a morbid resolve, he stared at his teacher and waited for an answer.

"Ha ha ha. Mr. Snape, you don't need to be shy, we're all friends here"- was the answer.

Lucius Malfoy emitted a stifled cough and mouthed soundlessly again "yes, we're ALL friends here" at Severus with a malicious grin on his face. He looked quite beside himself with anticipation. Out loud he said only the following –

"Come on Severus, maybe we can help you solve your problem. Do tell." His sister Gianna, the only girl in the room, giggled inappropriately but stopped as soon as she felt her brother's murderous gaze on her.

"Sorry," she whispered.

Everyone was staring at Snape. His normally pale skin was red as a beet now.

"I don't. Have. A. Story." He finally squeezed through his tightly shut lips. Getting angry now, he actually got up and was about to leave when Slughorn took pity on the boy and beckoned him back with what he obviously thought was a bighearted tone of voice –

"Young man, don't be so dramatic. We have all been there before, I assure you. I have plenty of failed loves of my own to retell. But if you are so inclined we don't have to talk about your particular one. We can just talk about love potions! Ay lads? Who here had ever tried_brewing_ a love potion?"

Several boys jumped into the conversation at once. Severus sat back down and visibly relaxed. Maybe he didn't make a mistake in coming here after all.

"I saw a girl buying one at a Diagon Alley store once," a redheaded fellow with a just a hint of facial hair, was saying. "She got all red and embarrassed when she saw me looking. I had no idea who she was of course, otherwise I would have asked her more about it."

"That's a pity, I bet she was from Beauxbuttons. There was a whole bunch of foreigners in London last summer. I met a really nice looking witch from Bulgaria there! Too bad she only stayed in England for a week." The boys all laughed at this. The older ones whooped appreciatively.

"My mom showed me how to brew one when I was a wee bit lad," Kevin O'Gorman started to boast. "She was helping a young muggle boy who lived nearby. She said it would steal the heart away from the one he pined after and that she would only have eyes for him."

"Very good, Kevin. But did you mother tell you for how long it would last? It is not forever that the potion will keep working." Slughorn interrupted.

"That's right sir. The potion will only work until the true love of that person who has drank it comes around and frees them from the potion's charm."

"Ah, tis' true. But you are still missing the most important part of it…" He looked around and waited for someone to speak. When no one did, he went on – "Who knows it? Oh come on, you are the brightest bunch that walks this school, one of you must know it."

Unfortunately, it seemed that they really didn't know, and in order to avoid sounding stupid everyone remained dead silent. Slughorn looked around the circle slowly, wearing a smug grin on his fat face. But his students were deliberately avoiding his gaze. Finally, having decided that the room was silent long enough, somebody spoke-

"Ghm, Sir. The person won't be able to stop thinking of the one who prepared the potion, and eventually if they don't stop taking it, they will… go insane. And it will be irreversible. Anyone who loses his wits because of a malicious potion is doomed to stay that way forever. That is, if the one who prepared the potion can find a way to keep giving it to them on a regular basis, and not just once. Which is rather hard to do." He hesitantly stopped there, although it seemed that he had more to say. Most of the boys in the room were listening very attentively and audible groans could be heard when he had stopped.

"That is absolutely right, Theadeus. The most dangerous thing about a love potion is that it can make the one you love completely crazy. And not in a good way." Slughorn chuckled and winked to the room at large at his last words.

"Wow," whispered a small blonde boy who was sitting next to Georgiana and the girl herself had a rather stupid look on her face, for her mouth was hanging wide open.

"I didn't know that…" and "That's what I was afraid of" was spoken simultaneously by Lucius and Snape.

Slughorn smiled again and picked up his butterbeer. Snape took a large deep breath and suddenly acquiring some courage, asked-

"Sir? How can one find out for sure whether somebody had been taking the potion? What are the symptoms? You know, besides the obvious external signs of affection toward the one who made it…"  
"Well, that is really quite simple. You just need to make the antidote (which you will find in any potion book really) and slip it to them without their knowledge. And then you just watch for a reaction, because the antidote takes effect almost immediately after it is taken. A minute later you will definitely know.

Ah, but look at the time, we should be breaking up out little meeting right about now if we don't want to get in trouble for breaking the curfew! Lovely evening, as usual. Thank you boys. And girls too – thanks you, Miss Malfoy for gracing our presence with your beautiful self." Lucius rolled his eyes and gagged at this, while his sister blushed and curtsied to her overly flattering professor.

In less than a second, everybody started scrambling for the exit, while saying their goodbyes and goodnights. Slughorn waved at a few more of his students before turning to look at Snape again, but found him already gone.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17. Goodbye for now

Sirius crept quietly along the fourth floor corridor near the Gryffindor wing of the castle. Large, monstrous icicles hung on the outer side of the frost bitten windows. He paused to admire one that was behind the nearest stretch of glass and was almost run over by someone who could not see through invisibility cloaks. Sirius was about to yelp when he remembered that fact, so instead he kept silent, inhaled a large amount of air and pressed himself towards the window-wall. He had wandered the school for a while in search of something fun to do, maybe a prank or a harmless theft of something, but after 2 unsuccessful boring hours he gave up on the idea and another thought came to him instead. Since _she_ wouldn't talk to him on her own, he would have to corner her in order to get her to listen.

There were only a few students in the corridors now, since most of the castle was already downstairs eating dinner. The few stragglers could be seen here and there but Sirius had only eyes for one. And she was nowhere around. Going down to the Great Hall wearing an invisibility cloak would be the height of stupidity so instead he decided to check out the Ravenclaw wing and wait for her to show up. Having reached the common room entrance he quickly slumped against the wall and nodded off, first making sure that no one could accidentally trod on him in that corner. So when Lily walked past that wall after dinner, there was no way she could have guessed that someone was waiting for her. Too bad that that someone was deep asleep and also in turn had no idea that the girl he wanted to have a very serious conversation with, had already passed him on her way to bed.

* * *

"James!" Narcissa squealed and giggled heartily into his ear, as he nibbled energetically on hers. "James, stop, I - beg - you. _Not here_" – she hissed the last part because his foreplay took her breath away. 

"Oh God, you're so beautiful," he breathed and kissed her hard on the mouth, while she wrapped her arms around his waist. After a minute she pushed him away and patted her lips with the back of her hand coyly.

"Come on, you have to stop now, we still need to go and find a way to sneak out into Hogsmeade today." She looked completely serious now, so he obeyed and moved away toward the mirror.

It was eight in the morning and they were standing in Slytherin common room, in front of the extinguished fire. They have been there all night, having fallen asleep in their armchairs the night before. A few half-awake students were stumbling in and out of the large room around them, none of them too surprised to see a Gryffindor among their midst. The entire school now knew about the shocking Slytherin-Gryffindor union, but no one dared publicly disapprove of it. It was Narcissa Black after all, the most respectful and intriguing girl in the year, and her partner in crime was Head Boy.

Just as she was smoothing down her hair, Lucius entered the common room. Stopping short, he surveyed the scene in front of him and for the first time in his life he didn't smirk. His face remained neutrally blank as he immediately turned around and went back the way he came. Not before he was noticed by James and Narcissa, of course.

"Ah…Lucius. You're friends with him?" James asked awkwardly.

"Me? No. I mean, sort of. I room with his sister…" Narcissa was just as uncomfortable; she got flustered and didn't know what else to say. "So, shall we go get ready for Hogsmeade? I'll go freshen up. Ill hurry." The last part sounded brave and cheerful; plastering a big, fake smile on her face, she exited the room as well.

James let out a sigh and fell back into an armchair by which he was standing. He watched his brand new girlfriend disappear and a sudden, strange, gut-wrangling mix of bliss and guilt consumed him. He didn't know what he wanted. In his entire life he has never before been this confused.

When Narcissa came out ten minutes later, he had already shaven, using a rather handy new spell and he had eaten, thanks to Ella who shared the remains of her breakfast with him. The girl was sitting on the arm of his chair and picked lint off the back of his sweater.

Narcissa eyed her relative in an annoyed sort of way, but kept her smile in place. "Ella! How are you doing? I see you've met my boyfriend. We have got to do something again when we get back from the break," she spit out in less than 2 seconds.

"Hi cousz…" drawled Ella slowly. She had a bored look on her face and did not appear too happy to see anyone at all, including her immaculately groomed cousin. "Yeah.. That would be great. Are you going to London for Christmas?"

"I am. And so is Sirius. We'll owl you a card," and turning away she added- "Well James, let's go."

"Coming," he replied and hurried to the nearest trashcan throw the rest of his bagel away.

James threw an apologetic smile to Ella and grabbing Narcissa's hand followed her out of the dungeons.

"Bye Ella," cried Narcissa as the door swung shut. James gave her an approving nod and pulled her close into a walking hug. His uncertainty was seemingly forgotten.

They walked with a quick pace towards the upper floors; hand in hand and seemingly oblivious to stares. Narcissa had conjured up a winter coat for James to save them time from going to the Gryffindor tower.

"Well, here it is." James said with confidence as the two came to a halt in front of a one-eyed statue.

Narcissa exhaled as she eyed the thing suspiciously, - "How am I supposed to fit through there without ruining my clothes completely?"

For a moment, James thought she was joking so he let out a laugh, much like Sirius's famous bark-like one. But when she continued looking questioningly at him, he got that she was serious.

"Well I can cast a spell to keep them uh, safe… let me think, I remembered it just yesterday…" - he lifted his wand and mumbled something incomprehensible. Narcissa's clothes emitted a slight glow; satisfied, she climbed right in and disappeared in the tunnel. James was about to do the same when he saw Lily rounding the corner. She was clutching a book to her chest and seemed deep in thought and wasn't really looking at where she was going. She stopped dead at once and the two of them stared at each other in horror for a moment before she spun around and ran.

"James, are you coming or not?" Narcissa's muffled voice came from below the statue somewhere in the tunnel. He snapped out immediately and assured her that he was right behind her. Then he turned around and hitting his knee several times on the hump of the statue in a hurry, finally plummeted down into what he hoped would be his death. For seeing Lily was truly worse than death – it was torture.

* * *

When Sirius woke up he was a bit disoriented. Still invisible, he was slumped against the wall next to a large group of Ravenclaws, all dressed in hats and scarves and carrying suitcases. Some of the students were already leaving the castle to start their vacations early, but Lily was nowhere to be seen. He got up hastily and tried to blink the sleep away. He kept blinking rather hard for several minutes, trying to will himself to wake up before he remembered a spell that was guaranteed to help him. With a wave of a wand a wave of freezing cold water crawled up his skin underneath all the layers of clothes, and less than a second later any hint at drowsiness was gone. 

"Brrrr!" He sputtered and shivered violently for a second or two. His handy spell was just in time too, for as soon as he opened his eyes wide he saw a disheveled Lily running straight at him. It seemed that they were about to collide, and suddenly remembering that she couldn't see him, Sirius immediately whipped off the cloak, startling several passerby and making Lily scream.

"Padfoot! What are you doing scaring me like that!" She was out of breath and seemed angry over something. Although when _wasn't_ Lily angry about something lately? Sirius felt a surge of pity before realizing that she was waiting for his to speak, so he came to his senses and mumbled a lame response. Lily accepted it without question and having visibly calmed down, she suddenly threw herself into his arms and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh Sirius, I can't stand it anymore. I can't, I can't," she garbled incoherently between sobs and halts for air. "He is with _her._ He is parading her around as if nothing is wrong! As if nothing ever happened. He was always so thoughtful and caring – why isn't he caring anymore?!!" She stopped in random places, breaking up the sentences into incomprehensible patches of words.

Sirius was holding her as gently as he could, resisting the urge to squeeze her to him closely and cover her face with kisses. He wanted to assure her that everything was going to be okay, but he knew it would have been insensitive to dump _his _wants and dreams on her when she needed his support the most. She only needed his shoulder to cry on, she didn't need _him _quite yet, and he was glad to at least give her the shoulder.

So he just stood there, patting her hair awkwardly and praying to the gods that his burning desire for her was not becoming 'obvious'.

"I don't know what happened to him, Lily, he really used to be different. It's not your fault." That wasn't true. Sirius had no idea, for all he knew it _was_ Lily's fault that James has changed so drastically from a lovesick boy into a non-committal player. But he would never say that to her. He, Sirius, would truly never dream of hurting her. He wanted to tell her again how he felt, to reason with her, to explain… but he couldn't just yet. He came there last night to look for her with the sole purpose of talking about his own feelings, but he valued hers too much to actually go through with it.

Besides, she already knew how he felt. A wave of anger went through him at the thought of this, but it went away just as fast, for as he was about to burst out with it, he looked down at her strawberry-red head and was momentarily disarmed. Lily was looking at him strangely, as if she has never seen him before. He eyes were full of tears to the brim of her hazel green irises and her lips were parted in a desperate confusion. Quickly, as if on impulse, she wiped her eyes and slowly took his hand in hers and placed it gently on her forehead. Her cheeks were burning red now, but he could just discern a smile on those puckered lips.

"Thank You," she said without even moving her lips.

Sirius's voice came out soft and cracked - "For what?"

"For not saying anything." Her smile grew wider and a second later he felt her lips on the palm of his hand as she slid it down her face for a kiss. "I'm very grateful." There was more meaning in that phrase than he could have ever dreamed.

* * *

Do review guys! I really hope that everyone is still enjoying the read, and if youre not DO tell me why - it will be helpful))) Thanks! 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter.18 Off for the break.

Narcissa and James walked along the main street in Hogsmeade looking as lovey-dovey as was possible. Her arm was draped around his elbow and her pretty face was constantly pointed up at his eyes. James's arms kept switching from enthusiastically hugging her waist to the affectionate fixing of her hair. To all the villagers who saw them, they did not look like a pair of kids from Hogwarts, they looked like legitimately young newlyweds. The only thing that could have given them away was the occasional fidgeting and nervous laughing coming out from beneath their winter hoods, for they were slightly worried about getting caught. Not that the store owners cared where they were from, as long as they spent some money at their establishments. Narcissa decided to go to the parchment shop first in order to find some pretty quills and signature paper parchments to give to her mother and father. She bought some extravagant candy box-sets for her cousins and picked a special one out for Sirius. She wasn't going to buy presents for her friends, for frankly she did not have any. She remembered about Petunia a little too late, when they were getting ready to leave and laden with bags and packages decided to stop at Madame Puttifut's for a cozy cup of tea. Kicking herself for being so forgetful, she ended up buying a large coffee mug right there at the shop and hoped that Petunia wouldn't mind it.

Having settled comfortably in a corner booth, faraway from any stray observers, the two have finally relaxed for the first time in a very long while. Narcissa sipped her coffee and sighed happily as James leaned in and gave her an impromptu massage. He decided to forget about everything else for the day and just be in the moment – it was a great moment after all. He had a very beautiful, smart girl with him on the eve of a three-week long break: what could be better?

Narcissa nuzzled in close to James and much like he did, decided to forget everything but the fleeting moment before her. She didn't want to think about long-term prospects or even the end of the year, which loomed very close to them all. Six months and they'd all be graduated. She promised herself that she wouldn't think about that. But despite that promise, she blurted out -

"James, what are your plans for after Hogwarts?"

Caught a little off guard, James paused for several seconds before replying, -"I have absolutely no idea. You?" He laughed and graced her hair with his mouth softly. It was true, he hadn't given it much thought since the required head of house interviews the students had to have in their fifth year. The best he could hope for was that the solution to that life- altering question would just find him on its own before the year was over. Although he knew that was rather a long shot.

"I don't know. I always wanted to work with foreign wizards, so maybe I will go into the Ministry and fight my way to the top… My parents can arrange a very good starting position at the Department of Mysteries for me." Narcissa didn't sound worried at all.

"Are you serious? Your parents have influence there? Wow, I guess the name of Black is worth much more than I have ever imagined. Not that I could get much out of Sirius, him having a rather rocky relationship with the fam and all. We don't talk about those things you know. Even though it's high time we began to think about it."

"You know James, there is something about Sirius that I've been wanting to tell you…"

"Ooh what is it? Is it something he has done when he was a kid? Cuz he never tells me any fun stories that happened away from school."

She sniffed at this and considered once more if it was worth telling him. There could be no more harm in it now… She couldn't have done it before, but it didn't really matter now.

Besides there was_ something else_ that she suspected Lily of doing, but that was something that she could not tell anyone about without first finding some evidence. Snape could blame himself for that. She didn't mean to eavesdrop whatsoever.

Thus, deciding to share the first secret, she went on-

"It's actually about Sirius and Lily…" she pronounced each word slowly and waited for his response.

"Oh…" James knew what she was about to say, Remus already told him, yet James was still surprised, because he didn't think that she of all people knew.

"I feel weird telling you this, and I never ever would have, except that now that we are thinking of being in a relationship with each other I want us to both to tell the truth." She stopped for a second to gulp the coffee nervously, "Well anyway. I saw Lily and Sirius once coming out of a secret hiding room in the middle of the night. They… I think they are sleeping together. I'm sorry, James. I really hope you are not too hurt. Was I wrong to tell you this?"

James's face was grave and solemn, for he did not expect such details as he had just heard. He had rather hoped that Sirius was just entertaining the thought of dating his girlfriend. His Ex-girlfriend… He never dreamed that he _has already_ been betrayed. And by the two people whom he trusted the most. He didn't know what to say. He would really have to think before jumping into action. But seeing that Narcissa was looking at him with a worried expression, he hurried to make a reply.

"No… No. It's okay, I don't blame you. Errr - Someone has already told me."

Sitting up straight, she stared incredulously - "Someone did?! Who?"

"Remus. He had his reasons to suspect, but I was hoping he might be wrong." James sighed. "I guess no luck there."

"Sorry..." she said again, sounding less convincing. She never thought much about that Lupin kid, and thought he was rather beneath her cousin's and James's company. Now, she wanted nothing more than to change the subject without sounding insensitive.

"Hey! At least you never cheated on her and that should make you feel great for being a better person!" - she added cheerfully and kissed him passionately on the lips before he could say anything else.

After several minutes, he surfaced wearing a goofy grin on his lipstick-smeared mouth.

"You're right. Lets just forget about it and enjoy each other's company. Thank you for telling me, but I would prefer to not think about that today." He smiled widely and dove in for another kiss.

* * *

Back at the school Sirius had finished packing. He would be leaving for London in less than 2 hours, which meant that he had to find his brother at least thirty minutes before then. He was rather disappointed with his last few days at the school and was actually a little excited about being somewhere else for a while. He was rather mad at James, at Remus, at himself… He had yet to find out about Narcissa and James, but there was already enough tension between all of them without adding on the extra information. When Lily referred to a "her" being with James, Sirius had no idea who the "her" was, and he was much disinterested to bother asking about it. He has become shockingly indifferent to everything lately, for no clear reason at all. Sure, James's strange behavior was part of it, but Sirius was not that aware of it. Sure, his pining for Lily affected his mood a little, but could it really be that serious?

There was a knock on the door at that moment, which startled him.

"Come in," he yelled in a raspy, tired voice.

"Hi Sirius." It was Georgiana Malfoy. There was confidence in her face and a strong, unwavering note in her low voice.

"Oh hello," he answered absentmindedly and reached into his trunk for something. And then immediately thought - _Wait, what?_ His head snapped back toward the doorway and his eyebrows came together in utter confusion.

Sirius stared at her, trying hard to focus on the girl and not look as bewildered as he felt. She simply stood in front of him and smiled. She couldn't believe she was actually inside the Gryffindor quarters _and _inside Sirius Black's dormitory on top of it all. A girl named Alice let her in a little over an hour ago and she spent most of it gathering courage in the common room by the half-dying fire, drawing major stares from Gryffindors who happened to know who she was.

"Um…um… Georgiana, right?" Sirius managed after racking his brains for the right name.

"Yes! You know my name…" she moved a little further into the room and leaned her right hand on a bedpost. "I am so glad you know my name."

"Yeah…um…" Sirius paused, looked at the floor, furrowed his brows again and said in the friendliest surprised tone possible - "what are you doing here?"

"Oh. Well… I have been wanting to talk to you…- ask you out, actually… but I haven't been able to pluck up my courage. And since the Christmas break is starting, I thought – now or never!" Georgiana giggled and took two more steps in order to sit on his bed. "Sorry for being so forward. I hope you don't mind me hitting on you in your room."

Dumbstruck, Sirius gaped at this strange girl, opening and closing his mouth at random, entirely lost for words. "You…uh, you came to ask me out?" The unwanted tone of shock and surprise seeped through every word. He was awed and impressed. "Wait, are you for real? There is not a single girl I know that would ever be brave enough to even think of doing that!" He looked at her for a second, taking in her appearance and looks, -" I'm, I'm flattered… really. I had no idea you liked me, Georgiana."

She smiled at such a warm reception of her sentiments and nodded her head. "So I take it you are not repulsed. That's good. I was hoping maybe we could get to know each other better? Over the break, want to get some coffee in London?"

"Wow, I'd… actually I'd like that quite a bit."

"Excellent! I am so relieved. I was totally expecting to run out of here crushed and embarrassed." She giggled again and got up off his bed. "Here is my address, why don't you owl me and we can pick the day and time." She handed him a crumpled piece of paper, which was obviously written in hesitation and haste.

"Alright. I will do that. Look forward to seeing you soon, then." He also got up and extended his hand for her to shake. Georgiana anticipated this move and thrust out her arm at the same time, which resulted in an unpleasant collision causing both of their limbs' to briefly ache. They laughed and shaking off the pain tried again, this time more carefully – she lifted her hand slowly and he held it in his for several seconds before letting go. With that, she turned around and left, keeping the entire encounter well under five minutes.

Sirius stood rooted in the same spot for a while, mulling over what has just happened. He looked at her note and quickly put it away into his pants pocked.

Nothing like this Ever happened to him. Lots of girls liked him, for sure, he had no doubts about that, but none of them were brave enough to tell him so face to face. There was never before a single girl who tried to catch his attention in such a bold, and yet simple way. How could he say anything else, but yes?

* * *

**Please review! (and disregard the grammar issues, this was written in a hurry, sorry guys )  
**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

New Years

On December 31st Sirius was found sitting in his room at Number 12 Grimmauld Place at his parents' house in London. He was reading a brand new Quidditch book which he had gotten for Christmas from Lupin, while sitting atop of his bed, facing away from the doorway.

His brother Regulus walked in without knocking and having taken a second to aim, threw a rolled up letter at Sirius's unsuspecting head.

"An owl delivered this a moment ago. It's for you," came his slow voice, full of self-pity and disdain. His brother pursed his lips and folded his right hand over the now-wrinkled roll of parchment. Staring at Regulus, he simply said, "Thanks."

Sirius's reply showed that he had no desire to talk to his miserable brother. He couldn't care less why he was so cheerless on eve of the New Year, and was not about to ask, as Regulus was clearly hoping he would do. Having lingered in the doorway for another moment or so, Regulus seemed to have understood that that was all the reply he was going to get out of his brother, so he turned around and left, making sure to slam the door behind him.

Sirius rolled his eyes at the gesture and rubbed his head absent-mindedly in the spot where the letter had hit him. "Stupid git," he muttered under his breath and tore open the letter's fancy seal. The parchment bore the Malfoy crest on top and the content was written in a delicate spidery handwriting of his new acquaintance, Georgiana.

_Dear Sirius, _

_Thank you for such a quick response. I was happy to hear from you so soon and I also enjoyed the Christmas pastries that you sent me tremendously. Now I feel bad for not sending you anything as a gift, hope you forgive my tactlessness. I would love to meet you at the Bellington's coffee shop the day after next! Eight o'clock in the evening works perfectly. I shall see you there!_

_-Georgiana M._

Sirius snorted having read the third sentence of her very short letter– he could surely forgive her "tactlessness" considering the pastries he sent her were given to him by his cousin Bellatrix and he would rather have choked on the cookies than eaten them himself. He was actually rather curious to meet up with this girl. He was getting sick and tired of aching after Lily Evans. Here was a witch who was tripping over herself with excitement about dating him. He really needed that self-esteem boost. Besides she wasn't bad to look at and he wasn't planning on promising anything long-term to her.

He honestly had no idea how much he was going to end up liking her.

* * *

Lily held the quill tightly in her hand as she stared at the blank parchment of the letter. She was trying to come up with something positive to say for over an hour now and it just wasn't working. She wanted to see him, but she didn't know how to tell him that in an acceptable way. She knew that he was mad about her, and she knew that she has not been overly kind to him in the past several weeks. She was confused. Lily was unable to figure out her feelings, after everything that's happened to her lately. She still loved James. Oh how she loved him! She couldn't lie to herself about that. It would take time to move on, _if her current plan wasn't going to work out _and she was still hoping that it would. She hasn't told anyone about this, not a soul in or out of Hogwarts. Not even Severus. But she had a sinking feeling that he knew. The thought had given her a shiver and the needed jolt to finally finish her note.

With a sigh she finally lowered her quill to the page and wrote –

_Darling Sirius!_

_I hope you have had a nice Christmas. I hope you know that I wish you the best holidays you can ever have! _

_I was wondering if you would mind dropping in to have a chat with me tonight during the celebration for the New Years? I very much hope you don't already have other plans but if you do, I understand. Please let me know,_

_Lots of Love,_

_Lily_

* * *

Sirus was about to leave his room and go outside out for a bit of flying when there was a tapping on the window and Lily's owl hovered near the ledge. The owl glared at him and hooted impatiently. It was given instructions to wait for response before flying off. Sirius hurried to the window and having untied the letter, threw the bird a treat. But as he scanned the parchment his jolly mood had slowly changed and he grew serious. He had to read the letter through a few more times before he tore his eyes away. Then he stared at the wall and pondered his options. This could be his chance to finally break through his friend-zone with Lily, but it could also turn out to be a miserable heart to heart rant about James. What should he do? He looked over at the owl as if she held an answer, but it did nothing more than flap its wings and stare back.

He sighed. He knew he had to do it. He would never forgive himself if he had missed an opportunity to date the girl he has been smitten with for so long. Lily was something he strove for and never quite could grasp. Georgiana would still be there if this didn't work out.

That sounded reasonable to him and having thus talked his inner conscience into this, he scribbled _Yes_ on the parchment before giving it back to the bird and sending it on its way.

When he walked into the living room several floors below, he saw that several of his relatives were already up and eating breakfast. The house elf was running back and forth between the kitchen, bringing in more and more delicious smelling food.

"Morning," came a greeting from several voices at once. Sirius returned it cheerfully and attempted to shuffle through the room toward the exit where his broom sat in a tiny closet. But he soon found out that flying was just not meant to be.

"Sirius! Wait." It was the clear, soft voice of his cousin Narcissa. He failed to notice her sitting among the others at the breakfast table, but she was now flinging her chair to the side and striding toward him with quick but graceful steps.

Narcissa slid her arm through his as soon as she had reached him and steered them both toward the kitchen door.

"Hey Cissa. I didn't see you there. Sorry, I would have stopped to chat if I knew that you were in the room." He mumbled as he was being dragged away in the opposite direction of where he wanted to go.

"Oh don't worry, no offense taken." For some strange reason she sounded breathless, but her voice was still sweet. "Do you have some time to chat?"

"Well, I was actually going out to fly for a bit. Would you care to come?" Sirius couldn't recall whether Narcissa was particularly fond of handling a broomstick, but he decided to ask anyway. "I actually had wanted to talk to you too. I believe you know the girl named Georgiana Malfoy?"

"Why, I certainly enjoy flyi- Wait, what? Georgiana? Why?" Narcissa looked dumbfounded for a second. Obviously this was not at all what she wanted to talk about. By this time they had reached the kitchen and several of the Black family house-elves were bowing to them left and right.

Sirius sighed and looked around at his least favorite creature – Kreacher the house-elf. He did not want to discuss this in front of him.

"Why don't we go outside? Did you say that you didn't mind flying? If you don't want to we can just take a walk."

Narcissa stared at him suspiciously but after a moment shrugged her shoulders and said "What the hell. Let's go for a fly-around the block. I assume you know the anti-muggle spell, because I'm rather rusty with that one?"

Sirius answered that he indeed knew the spell and led the way to the broom closet, extracted two of the closest sitting ones and handed them to Narcissa.

In yet another minute they were outside and Sirius was mumbling the spell to make the muggles ignore the flying broomsticks with people on them. He took one broom and mounted, while apprehensively watching his cousin do the same. She seemed to be very comfortable with it however and he soon saw that he had nothing to worry about. Narcissa Black could fly as well as him.

They became airborne and flew at break-neck speed several times around the neighboring park before slowing down to talk once again.

"You're really good!" yelled Sirius, impressed with his cousin's skills.

"Thank You. But let us not discuss my flying abilities just yet. I want to know what**you** think about me and James. You haven't said a thing about it since we got together."

Sirius looked confused and slowed his broom down to a hover. "Sorry, what do you mean? You and James what? You're confusing me Narcissa, and we have only Just got together, you only just got here this morning didn't you?"

Now it was Narcissa's turn to be confused. "No. I didn't mean you and I getting together this morning. I meant that James and I are now… together-together. You're telling me you didn't know?" The shock on her beautiful face made Sirius shift his weight abruptly without realizing it and slide off the broom headfirst. Narcissa quickly reached out and grabbed his hand just in time to pull him back up. But as she let go, he kept staring at her, not watching where he was going. They kept floating slowly ahead, looking at each other instead of the space in front of them. That's when Sirius collided with a large billowing flag, barely missing the flagpole. Loosing his balance again, he slipped and fell hard onto the sand of a children's playground below them.

"SIRIUS!" came Narcissa's frightened shout. She was kneeling beside him on the ground in a second. Sirius only fell about 15 feet, so he wasn't badly hurt, but an ankle was nevertheless twisted. Sighing with relief, she mended it immediately and said smiling- "Lucky you didn't run into a tree. And that there was sand on the ground."

He laughed his bark-like laugh – "It's alright, I've had much worse in my 6 years of playing Quidditch." He was now sitting up, rubbing his elbow and ankle; Narcissa was sitting directly beside him, happy that he was okay.

"So what were you saying about James? I can't seem to grasp what you mean. And he certainly hasn't talked to me recently. You see, we had a bit of a fight and I haven't spoken to him for a few days."

Narcissa was definitely unhappy to hear those news. She wondered if perhaps it was because of her that James hasn't spoken to Sirius. It was possible, and in her mind it meant that they were doomed. Their relationship might anger Sirius, or god knows what else, if James hadn't thought it was necessary to let his best friend know.

But now she had no choice but come out with it. She had already said too much and it was too late to back out of the conversation. Quickly searching for a way to say it in the softest way possible, she offered -

"James is now my boyfriend. He and Lily broke up and he is dating me." _Yeah, that did not come out soft and easy. Nice Narcissa,_ she berated herself silently.

But at least the sentence was clear and un-confusing. Narcissa crossed her fingers and looked at him for a reaction. "I thought you knew, and I was so happy that my cousin was my boyfriend's best friend. I had no idea that you were ignorant of the whole thing." She actually bit her lip at this, which was extremely unbecoming and catching herself in the action Narcissa grunted and cursed under her breath.

Sirius was silent for a while, but interestingly enough he did not seem mad. She watched him intently at first but after a few seconds she inadvertently started to relax once he showed no signs of irritation.

"Well?" Narcissa finally prompted.

Coming down from his thoughts, Sirius said - "I think it's great. If it were anyone at the entire school of Hogwarts I would rather it be you. It's not your fault he treated Lily less than honorably lately, and I think that you'll be good for him. I'm not sure he deserves you… Ha ha!" A laugh escaped his lips and she knew that it was all okay.

"Really?" she flushed. "Oh, I'm so happy to hear that. I was actually a little worried." And she lunged at Sirius to pull him into a big hug.

"Why were you worried? My best friend and my favorite cousin _getting together_ – its marvelous!" And to himself he thought - _And now I know how to play the Lily thing. _

_This is perfect. Now I know why she was so upset- James dating someone as beautiful as Cissa is bound to intimidate anyone. I wish I'd known this earlier… All I have to do is bring up my beautiful, wonderful, brilliant cousin Narcissa who isn't dating anyone as far as I know, and Lily will be crying in my arms, and hugging and touching… and I would be right there to scoop her up. _

His smile grew wider as he picked up the broomstick and got up to his full height. "Shall we do another round around the block?"

But Narcissa had remembered something that he no longer fancied to discuss. She put her arms akimbo on her hips and narrowing her eyes said - "No. You wait a second. NOW, you tell me about Georgiana Malfoy."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 

A breath of fresh air

"Uh.. Right. That." Sirius mumbled, sporting an uncomfortable grin. "Well, how do I say this… carefully? Uh... I found out that she likes me. She told me actually. Right before asking me on a date. Before the break started. And now I have actually agreed to it. I wondered what you thought … of - that…" At this he stopped and looked up at the sky with a serious look on his face. It sounded sad and pathetic, bordering on ridiculous. He wasn't sure why it sounded that way, but it did, especially since his listener was Narcissa. 

Less than a second later Narcissa snorted with laughter, startling Sirius who was expecting quite a different reaction. Quite possibly he had never seen his cousin laugh like that. "Oh god, oh haha. Geor – Georgiana. Haha." She stopped for breath, and grasped at her waist in an attempt to stifle down the laughing. "It is too funny. And here I thought you were going to bring up Lucius." As soon as she said Lucius, she suddenly realized that she had said too much and the laughter ceased at once. "I mean, uhh, I thought you were going to talk about how you hate him and ask me questions about his Slytherin family." That the stupidest excuse she had ever come up with. Narcissa prided herself on her quick wit and intellect and here she was being as stupid as a first year Hufflepuff. Groaning, she clapped her hand over her eyes and attempted to change to subject. 

"Will you be spending tonight at your house with us for the New Year's dinner? It's a fine Black tradition to host it, of course, which is why I've always hated it." She was dying to continue the Georgiana subject, but it was better to steer away from the dangerous Lucius territory than to satisfy her curiosity just then. 

"Oh, actually I have a…" he stumbled trying to come up with something that would cover the truth, but couldn't think that fast. So after realizing that if he didn't say something in the next couple of seconds, Narcissa would know that he was lying, he went on - "I have a …thing. I don't really want to talk about it. Yet. I will tell you later though."

That was fair enough and Narcissa nodded respectfully, refraining from further questions. "Okay. I guess I'll have to muddle through on my own… I must say I hate you," she chuckled, "but if you have previous arrangements…" She spread her hands at this and shrugged. She thought for a moment that perhaps he was going to see Georgiana after all, but then remembered that even if he wanted to do that, the girl herself could not. The Malfoys had a tradition too, and it consisted of going to a foreign country for the New Years, which according to Lucius, they were doing today. 

"Yeah. Yeah, thanks for understanding. But you and I should hang out tomorrow! When everyone else goes around knocking on muggle doors while being invisible. God, I never understood that "fun" pastime…"

"Mm, yeah, poor muggles." Narcissa was already distracted and thus didn't sound sarcastic at all, but Sirius didn't really care enough to notice. 

Sirius had already turned away, getting ready to take off, when Narcissa called him back one last time, "Cousin, I am happy that we're friends." She beamed, looking bright and sincere.

Looking startled, Sirius produced a beaming smile in return and replied "Me too. Me too, my dear, beautiful cousin." He walked back to her and they embraced for a couple of seconds. Then he waved farewell and jumped back on his broom. "See you tomorrow Cissa, don't have too much fun with the fam tonight!"

"I won't" she whispered under her breath, while looking up into the sky after him and slightly waving her hand. 

Narcissa turned away and went to pick up her own broomstick when suddenly she heard a crack behind a nearby tree. Tensing up, she pretended to ignore it, while she bent down to get hold of the broom and secretly slip out her wand from the inside of her robes. With a quick step she sprang forward and yelled out a stunning spell at the offending tree. She heard a crash as someone's body keeled over and connected with the ground below. Striding more confidently now, Narcissa made her way to it, and stopped triumphantly above the boy laying at her feet. It was a strongly built, tall, blonde boy, whose own wand was still clutched in his immobile hand. Narcissa let out a loud gasp and seized the closest branch for balance. Finally getting hold of herself again, she kicked him hard in the rib and yelled, -

"WHAT are you doing here? I thought I told you to stop spying on me." His mocking eyes stared up at her from the ground, for of course he could not answer in his freshly stunned state. "Oh for Merlin's sake! Urgh!" Narcissa realizing just that, jabbed her wand at him and said a counter spell to un-stun him. 

"And a lovely hello to you too, dear. Heard you talking me. How flattering. I didn't know you thought so highly of me to assume that your big-headed Gryffindor cousin would be talking to people about me." He was now in the process of pushing himself up and brushing the leaves off his expensive clothes.

"Oh shut up, Lucius! You had better be able to explain what you are doing here, right now?" She let out another URGH and stomped her left foot. The effect wasn't what she had wanted, for the shoe connected with the earthy mud and the sound died away in it. 

Lucius stood up slowly, chuckling under his breath. "Your reactions are superb, Narcissa. I congratulate you on being a smart witch. However your choices in the other aspects of life are not so… refined."

"Urgh, stop smirking. I know perfectly well what you think of my muggle-loving cousin, but I happen to like him. That's why I don't care and am willing to forget his numerous shortcomings. Besides, he is very sweet and caring. Compared to some people." She shot him a cold look and folded her arms in front of her chest. 

"I came to see you, of course. What else would I be doing here. You told Potter that you would be spending holidays with your relatives in London, so I came to wish you a happy new year."

"And I suppose you spied around till we left the house to go flying this morning and followed us here."

"Naturally." His smile was wide, no trace of shame in his handsome young face. 

She scowled but a tiny smiled slipped through in the end. "I got to say, I would have done the same. Well done." She brushed a lock of hair out of her eye and went on, "But that still does not mean that your presence is welcome! What if Sirius sees you? Or worse, Bella!" 

"Oh, so what if perfect goody-Sirius knows that we are …friends." 

Narcissa actually laughed at this, "Please, you and I are not friends. Everyone knows that. I know that, you know that, even Albus Dumbledore knows that! Let's not pretend!" 

They were silent for a while, then she said quietly, not really asking, but stating the fact in exasperation "Why did you come." 

He chuckled, but no longer smiled. "Well, I wanted to see you. I know it was a bad idea, but I couldn't help it. I know you are not ready for 'more', but I am not ready to erase you from my life just yet. Soon school will be over and then how will I see you again?"

"Lucius, I…" She looked at him with her eyes open wide. She wanted to tell him the truth, but she didn't quite know what the truth was. She didn't hate him anymore. She wasn't even sure that she ever hated him to begin with, but she also wasn't ready to accept the fact that she liked him as well. So she simply said, "I'm sorry. You have to leave."

He looked rather sad and the look on his face showed that he wanted to say something else, but he didn't. He nodded, and touching her hand turned around to dissaparate. 

In the old days, she would have thought that Lucius was getting desperate, but now she just thought that his actions were sweet. The old Narcissa would have marveled in her power over him, gloated over her beauty and boy-luring skills. But she did not. James Potter had apparently rubbed off on Narcissa a little bit, for she was slowly changing and she didn't even realize she was. 


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21 Unexpected

Chapter 21 Unexpected

"Hey…." Sirius whispered inaudibly as he stood in the doorway of Lily's bedroom, shifting uncomfortably while half-trying to smile.

"Padfoot! You came," Lily jumped up as she saw him and running the several feet to the door, threw herself into his arms. "I didn't really think you would… You know after everything... I am so happy to see you." She let go of his strong stocky frame and took a step backwards. Biting her lip and sporting a goofy half smile on her round-skinny face, she looked up into his eyes. He wasn't saying anything.

He just stood there, arms hanging awkwardly at his sides.

Frowning at such a demeanor, she moved another step back. "Are you alright? Has something happened?"

He could tell that he was making Lily visibly uncomfortable, so he tried to speak up at last. It wasn't easy. Finally he sighed and said in a rather shaky voice, -

"Why didn't you tell me that James was seeing Narcissa?"

"What?" Lily looked surprised.

"You didn't tell me that the other girl was Narcissa. I had to hear it from her."

"I… I thought you knew. You didn't know? You're joking! How could you not know?" She was genuinely surprised to hear that.

"Oh, Lily, I understand everything so much better now. I feel so terrible for you. You're still in love with him. And the other girl is Cissa Black." He let out a loud laugh, which they both found inappropriate, but Sirius couldn't help it. He found the situation highly amusing. Not for Lily, of course, but for James.

Sirius had thought about it long and hard, and he really was happy for his cousin, especially since it left his path to Lily open. He really thought they James and Narcissa could work as a couple. A weird, different, lovely kind of couple.

But how could he convince Lily of the brilliance of it all? He had to try. Her beautiful face was staring up at him expectantly and all he wanted to do was grab her hands in his and press his own face against it.

"Lily, I know I shouldn't bring this up…" he stopped himself for a second, suddenly remembering that she was the one who instigated this meeting, and changed his inquiry mid-sentence,  
"Well, actually, let me ask you first – why did you invite me over?"

Her smile faltered for a second, but only for a second. Less than a minute later he found himself being pulled by the hand out of the room and down the stairs into the kitchen. Lily's parents were sitting at the dinner table, talking quietly amongst themselves. Petunia was not there.

"Mum, dad, you remember Sirius," Lily said excitedly, and without waiting for an answer pulled him farther down the hall through the hallway and into the living room. It was empty and dimly lit. Only the fire was sparkling and cracking softly in the hearth. The scene was very cozy and romantic. She finally stopped in front of the fireplace and Sirius began to look around. There were two burgundy armchairs, he remembered from the last time that he visited, but they were now pushed back against the wall, and a soft bearskin rug was spread out in front of the fireplace instead. There were two candles and two wine glasses, as long as a strangely shaped cake, and a plate with an apple-stuffed chicken on it. He stared, mouth hanging slightly open. _Had she done all this for me? But what did it mean?_

She pinched him slightly on the hand and giggled. "I wanted to thank you for being such an amazing… friend. So I made you a special Christmas dinner. It's a little cheesy, but I wanted it to be unusual and figured no girl has ever done something like that for you. Am I right?" Her cute little dimple appeared as her face turned all hopeful.

Sirius didn't want to tell her about the picnics he used to take with a Hufflepuff witch back in their fourth year, so he bit his lip and shook his head – "No, you are right. This is so special!" He turned slightly to the left so that he could see her clearly and wrapping his arms around her, gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Thank you, Lily."

She seemed relieved to hear that and immediately motioned to the rug, "Sit down. I hope you are hungry, because I made a lot… there is still a ton of food in the kitchen. Mum and dad were gracious enough to let me cook everything for the New Years. Even though I'm a lousy cook. Petunia fled the house as soon as heard I was cooking." She giggled again and lowering herself down, handed him a knife to cut the chicken. "If you don't mind."

He took the knife from her absentmindedly but kept looking straight into those green, sad eyes, that have mesmerized him for so long. Why was she doing this? She wasn't over James, that much was clear. And yet there they were, in her parents' house, on New Years, alone on a bearskin rug… – there was hope.

"I don't know what to say. When I was coming over here, I did not expect anything like this. You really didn't have to go to all this trouble-"

She cut him off - "But I wanted to! You mean so much to me. I want you know that. I know you don't think I feel… well, you know what I mean. But that's not completely true." She turned bright red at saying this, and getting flustered, couldn't get any other words out. She grabbed the glass and choked down a gulp of the wine. Coughing, she apologized to Sirius and clumsily pulled the knife back toward herself, because he still hasn't cut into the chicken. He was looking at her with great amusement in his eyes, enjoying her flustered babbling, having forgotten all about the food.

Finally he laughed and reached across the rug to touch her hand. A shock of electricity ran through it as the touch connected. Lily jumped slightly but didn't take away her hand. She finished serving the meat and no longer needed to use it. Blinking rapidly, heart beating wildly, she sat very still, waiting for his next move.

Ten seconds later, he pulled away his hand and picked up the fork. "Mm, this meat is good. You did excellently." Confused, she stared, but only for a second.

Then making up her mind, she got on all fours, pushed away the candle and crawled straight at him. Sirius was anticipating this, so he grabbed the second candle and in a bold, firm move, tossed it into the fire. That didn't startle Lily though, and she kept moving toward him. With a smirk and a head nod, he was ready to meet her. Moments later their lips met in a slightly less-than-passionate lip-lock.


End file.
